Therapy Dogs of Santa Barbara’s Executive Director, Jody Williams, was recently a guest on Unleashed Curiosity, a podcast by Vital Pet Life founder and CEO Donie Yamamoto and Doctor of Veterinary Medicine Dr. Amber Da Silva.
In this episode, Donie and Dr. Amber sit down with Jody, Executive Director of Therapy Dogs of America and Therapy Dogs of Santa Barbara, to talk about how the organization has taken the human-animal bond into places most people wouldn’t expect — county jails, behavioral health clinics, airport terminals – as well as more familiar settings like classrooms and senior care facilities.
Jody shares what she’s seen change as a result — from a young man who hadn’t left his jail cell in two months, to clinic patients who show up because they know the dogs will be there, Jody’s stories from the front lines of animal-assisted therapy make the case better than any research paper and more heartwarming than any headline.
Topics covered:
🐾 How Therapy Dogs of Santa Barbara grew from a reading-to-a-dog program to a multi-site behavioral health partner
🏥 How Therapy Dogs of Santa Barbara is partnering with the Santa Barbara County Jail and the impact they are making
✈️ The Santa Barbara Airport therapy dog program and the unexpected moments it creates
🐕 What makes a dog (and a handler) suited for this kind of work
💙 How to get involved if your dog has what it takes
Take a listen to this fun 28-minute discussion here: https://smartlink.ausha.co/unleashedcuriosity/therapy-dogs-mental-health-community-impact-with-jody-williams
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