Emotional Support

Animals and Service

Animals: A Revolutionary
Form of Support
A Senior Project Presentation by Sydney Alexandra
Sterling
Background Information:
Hi! My name is Sydney Sterling and I
am a senior at Northgate High School.
At Northgate, all seniors must
complete a senior project in order to
graduate. The project consists of a
research paper, a physical project, and
a presentation. I will be providing a
general overview of my project over
the next few slides.

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 Part 1: Research Paper
How is further research into Post
Traumatic Stress Disorder
redefining this once
misunderstood and mistreated
condition?

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Part 2: The Tangible Project
● Why are Emotional
Support Animals and
Service Animals such
effective forms of
support for people with
mental illnesses?
● Two elements:
instagram account and
youtube presentation
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The Instagram Account
Username: esa_awareness_

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The Goals:
● To educate my peers about the
importance of ESAs and
Service Dogs as a form of
support and treatment for
patients with mental illnesses
● To explain the differences
between ESAs and Service
dogs and describe why they
make up their own categories
● To explain the trainings the
animals go through in order to
support their handlers
● And so much more!
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Topic 1:

Emotional Support
Animals
Definition of an ESA:
An ESA is an animal companion that offers alleviating support to a
person with a mental illness. They alleviate one or more aspects of
the disability at hand.

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What Animals can be an ESA?
Common ESAs: Uncommon ESAs: However…

● Dogs ● Monkeys Almost any animal can

● Cats ● Pigs be registered as an ESA if
● Birds ● Peacocks they meet the required
● Rabbits ● Turkeys criteria!
● Miniature horses

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How is an ESA
certified?
● ESAs do not need any special
training
● They must be certified by a
mental health professional
(physician, psychiatrist, etc)
● Official confirmation is done
through letterhead and
includes information about
patient

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 What advantages do ESAs receive?
● The Fair Housing Act allows
ESAs to live in residences that
have “no pet” policies
● Landlords may not request
persons to pay additional fees,
refuse to accommodate the
animal, say that the animal
needs specific training, or
anything else of that nature
● However, ESAs are not covered
by the ADA and therefore do
not have the same benefits as
service dogs do
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How ESAs Benefit Patients with Mental
Illnesses
● Help manage anxiety, ● Sleep Support: nudge, cuddle, or
provide trauma whine at patient when having
support, improve nightmares/flashbacks
physical health, are ● Emotional Regulation: pace or
only just a few whimper when handler has
benefits elevated emotional arousal
● For patients with ● Socialization: helps support
PTSD, Emotional conversation in group settings
Support Animals ● Daily Routine: creates daily
provide sleep routine (walking, feeding, etc)
support, emotion for handler
regulation,
socialization, and
daily routine support 12
500,000-1,000,000,000
People in the United States have Emotional Support
Animals

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Topic 2:

Service Animals
Definition of a Service Animal:
Service Animals are animals that are individually trained to perform
tasks for people with disabilities and mental health issues.
● Work with people who are blind, deaf, have mental
illnesses such as PTSD, and so forth, as stated by the
Americans With Disabilities Act

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What Animals can be Service Animals?
● Dogs
● Miniature horses ● It is more difficult
for animals to
become service
animals because they
must be specially
trained
● The most common
service dogs are the
Golden Retriever,
Labrador Retriever,
and German
Shepard
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How is a Service Animal Certified?
● Service animals must undergo
rigorous training in order to
become a registered and
certified service animal
● Each service animal is specially
trained to help the patient it is
assigned to
● Therefore, a service dog trained
to assist a blind handler is
trained differently than one
trained to assist a handler with
PTSD
● About 50-70% of service
animals do not pass the
rigorous testing 17
What Advantages do Service
Animals Receive?
● They are allowed in State and
Local Governments,
businesses, public areas, and
residences of all kinds
● Unlike ESAs, Service Animals
are also allowed to
accompany their handlers on
Aircraft cabins
● Service animals may not be
asked to be removed by
persons, according to the
ADA
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How Service Animals Benefit Patients
with Mental Illnesses:
● For PTSD, service dogs ● Alert Tasks: alerts handler when it
are specifically trained is time to take medication, when
to do many helpful they are having a panic attack,
tasks when someone is approaching
● 5 tasks: alert, ● Interruption Tasks: interrupts
interruption, panic attacks, nightmares,
movement, guide, and dissociations, freezing fears
call ● Movement Tasks: protects handler
● Also are trained to from crowds and approaching
retrieve medication for persons
handler, turn on lights, ● Guide Tasks: guides handler out of
and do small helpful stressful situations
tasks ● Call Tasks: can call 911, therapists,
suicide hotlines
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 500,000
Service Animals help American Citizens today

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 An Overview: The Difference Between
Service Animals and Emotional Support
Animals

Credit: The State House File 21

 Works Cited

Annie Tanasugarn, PhD. “Emotional Support Dogs for Complex PTSD.” Medium, Invisible Illness, 7 Sept. 2020,

medium.com/invisible-illness/emotional-support-dogs-for-complex-ptsd-a581a2826fc.

Cherry, Kendra. “What Is an Emotional Support Animal?” Verywell Mind, 17 Oct. 2019, www.verywellmind.com/what-is-an-emotional-support-animal-4171479.

“How Emotional Support Animals Benefit Mental Health and Wellness - San Diego: API.” Alvarado Parkway Institute, 23 Feb. 2021,

apibhs.com/2020/05/18/how-emotional-support-animals-benefit-mental-health-and-wellness.

Lynda April, et al. “Confirming the Benefits of Emotional Support Animals.” Counseling Today, 13 Jan. 2021,

ct.counseling.org/2015/04/confirming-the-benefits-of-emotional-support-animals/.

Nicole, Cosgrove. “10 Interesting Service Dog Statistics in 2021.” Doggie Designer, 19 Oct. 2020, doggiedesigner.com/service-dog-statistics-and-facts/.

Mark Trainer, et al. “Service Dogs Save Lives.” ShareAmerica, 2 Oct. 2016, share.america.gov/service-dogs-save-lives/.

“Service Animals.” ADA 2010 Revised Requirements: Service Animals, www.ada.gov/service_animals_2010.htm.

“US Service Animals - PTSD Service Dog Tasks: How They Help You.” US Service Animals Blog, 23 Aug. 2019,

usserviceanimals.org/blog/ptsd-service-dog-tasks/.

“What's a Service Animal? Nobody Knows.” Indiana News Powered by Franklin College Journalism Students,

thestatehousefile.com/whats-service-animal-nobody-knows/.
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 Thank you for watching! I hope
all of you learned something new
about Emotional Support
Animals and Service Animals that
you did not know before!

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