Imagine a community in which children are eager to learn to read, stroke patients are motivated to learn to walk and talk again, and women who have suffered from abuse gain the confidence to overcome their fear. We're doing our part to build healthier communities. It's about changing lives!
Animal-Related
Adults
Children and Youth (infants - 19 years.)
Crime/ Abuse Victims
Disabled, General or Disability unspecified
Offenders/Ex-offenders
Denver Pet Partners provides service and support to children and adults with developmental disabilities and other special needs to facilitate their inclusion into the social and economic mainstream of community life. This is accomplished by registered volunteer handler-animal therapy teams working collectively with teachers and therapists to provide goal-directed intervention in which an animal is incorporated as an integral part of the individual educational plan (EIP) or counseling session. Educational/child welfare facilities are served including schools for children with special needs, adult day care programs, after school programs, residential treatment centers, child advocacy centers, a juvenile correctional facility, and government mental health facilities.
Denver Pet Partners provides education to the public on the benefits of the human-animal bond and the field of animal-assisted interventions on an on-going basis through presentations at healthcare facilities, schools and universities, conferences, health fairs, and community events. In addition to the people who received public education, Denver Pet Partners responded to over 500 inquiries from the public via the website and phone.
Denver Pet Partners conducts a standards-based education program for animal-assisted intervention volunteers through the Pet Partners program. These handler training courses are taught by experienced, licensed Pet Partners Instructors with the objective of educating the human end of the leash on topics such as risk management, infection control procedures, how to effectively engage with different client populations, how to best advocate for a therapy animal by recognizing their stress signals, and more. As part of this program, over 120 evaluations are conducted annually to assess the skill and aptitude of handler-animal teams to ensure safe and effective service delivery. Team Evaluations are objective assessments of a handler-animal team utilizing 22-exercises based on skill and aptitude conducted by trained, licensed Pet Partners Evaluators with the objective of determining the team's ability to conduct safe and effective animal-assisted interventions. Pet Partners teams must re-evaluate every two years.
Clients consistently report to us what a significant impact the therapy animals have on the children's therapeutic outcomes. There is steady growth in the number of healthcare professionals wanting to incorporate therapy animals into their treatment process.
Continuous demand for volunteer training. Approximately 100 students attend the handler training courses annually. DPP has successfully conducted over 50 workshops, teaching over 1000 students how to deliver safe and effective animal-assisted interventions. Over 120 evaluations are conducted annually to assess the skill and aptitude of handler-animal therapy teams to ensure safe and effective service delivery. DPP has conducted over 1500 handler-animal evaluations.
No actionable incident reports filed.
Increased awareness of our resources. DPP responds to over 500 inquiries annually from the public via the website and phone, including from facilities requesting a therapeutic intervention program incorporating animals, and/or the services of a handler-animal therapy team; and from people wanting to become a registered handler-animal team.
Human Services
Adults
Aging/Elderly/Senior Citizens
Children and Youth (infants - 19 years.)
Mentally/Emotionally Disabled
At-Risk Populations
Denver Pet Partners volunteer handler-animal therapy teams provide positive physiological effect, psychological well-being, decreased feeling of loneliness and isolation, increased social and verbal interactions, reduced stress, enhanced pro-social orientation, a source of support and increased perception in the ability to cope, to patients in acute and residential care facilities, group homes and hospice.
Hundreds of people benefit weekly through regular service from over 150 volunteer human-animal teams in 16 hospitals, 11 residential care centers, 2 group homes, 6 hospices, 2 cancer treatment centers, and 2 homeless shelters.
Hundreds of people benefit weekly through regular service from over 150 volunteer human-animal teams in 16 hospitals, 11 residential care centers, 2 group homes, 6 hospices, 2 cancer treatment centers, and 2 homeless shelters.
Youth Development
Children Only (5 - 14 years)
Disabled, General or Disability unspecified
Ethnic/Racial Minorities - General
General Public/Unspecified
Poor/Economically Disadvantaged
Through the literacy mentorship program, Denver Pet Partners improves the literacy skills of children through the assistance of registered volunteer handler-animal therapy teams. The children read to the animals, therefore offering the children a highly effective, interactive and motivational way of improving reading skills, confidence and self-esteem.
Clients consistently report to us what a significant impact the therapy dogs have on the children's therapeutic outcomes. There is an increasingly steady incline in the number of healthcare professionals wanting to incorporate therapy animals into their treatment process.
