Emotional support animals

[Bow]

We all know the benefit that animal have on our mental health, but does any one have a specific emotional support animal? Registered through the council? I’m trying to look into it for a cat, but not really finding much information. 

[Former-Member]

Morning @Bow,

I don't personally have an emotional support animal, but I wish I did! Have you checked this page out?

Keen to hear from the community too about this subject, both in terms of how to register an animal, and also the benefits to those who live with an emotional support fur/feathered/gilled friend.

🐱🐶🐴🦉

*Edit* – I just realised the link I shared is NSW Govt. specific, and seeing as how we don't all live in NSW, that might not be the link you're after @Bow. Perhaps a call to your local council?

[Bow]

ESA are a little different to assistant animals. From the research I’ve done so far and I’m not even sure it’s correct info I have found, yiu don’t need to do any training and the only thing that it’s entitles? You to is being able to have an ESA in housing when an animal is not other wise allowed. 
You need a letter from a psychologist type person stating you’d benefit from an ESA. 

[Former-Member]

Thanks for sharing @Bow, I think this could be a really important topic to investigate because there are so many in the community whose pet/animal is a crucial part of their healing, and yet it can be really difficult to access housing etc with a pet. 

If I find any further info I'll be sure to share it here, and would love to hear from you too if you explore this further and can add to the knowledge base here.

[TideisTurning]

Hey @Bow,

This is a tough puzzle to try to figure out hey? I've looked into certifying pets I've had before in hopes of being able to use them as kind of a partner in the work I do particularly (slightly different I know), but haven't really gotten far with it, because of how hard the process was for me to try to navigate!

Finding information specific to cats seems trickier again! I realise both talk about/ focus on dogs specifically, but I'm wondering if this article from Assistance Dogs Australia and the Mind Dogs Australia website might be good sources of information to start off? Some of it may translate as general information. All the very best with your search. I hope you are able to find the answers you are looking for. 

TideisTurning  ❤️

[Bow]

Thanks @TideisTurning  i will have a look at both those links. I think perhaps it’s more widely a thing in the states? I seemed to come across a lot more info that wasn’t for Aus. 

but I got a new kitty last night…. Has made me smile so much today. 

[CrazyChick]

@Bow 

Emotional Support Animals is a term commonly used in USA, however they are not legally recognised in Australia. However you may choose to get a letter from a mental health professional to ask if your emotional support animal can remain with you in situations such as housing, but legally there is nothing that can make a housing owner allow an emotional support animal. 

This website explains it quite well:

Emotional support dog Australia

Are Emotional Support Animals And Assistance Dogs The Same?

An assistance dog is a dog that has gone through EXTENSIVE training to assist a person with a disability. Their rights and roles are defined by the Disability Discrimination Act 1992.

Assistance animals are not pets. Rather, they help a person with a disability to participate in everyday activities. For people with sight conditions, these dogs are often called “guide dogs.” But, assistance animals can be trained for other roles, too. For instance, they can aid people with hearing impairments, physical disabilities, medical conditions such as epilepsy or diabetes, as well as mental disorders such as anxiety, PTSD and suicidal attempts. They also need to meet certain hygiene and behavioural standards.

Emotional support animals aren’t recognized by Australian law, so the definition is rather vague. These animals provide emotional support to a person through different mental conditions, but they’re not trained to do that. Instead, their pure presence provides comfort and company.

In practice, assistance and emotional support animals differ by their public access rights. This means that assistance animals can go to different public places and forms of transportation. Their owners need their aid in these places and denying them these rights would be discrimination.

Owners of emotional support animals, on the other hand, don’t have such rights. An emotional support dog is considered just a companion dog in Australia. And while the support they provide can be crucial for a person’s ability to properly function from day to day, they’re not trained for the job. For that reason, they’re not granted access to public spaces and transport.

[CrazyChick]

@Former-Member

I agree that our pets are an important part of our healing and it would be good if it were easier to keep our pets with us in rentals.

In Qld the laws are changing on 1st October 2022. The details are not available yet but are meant to default to pets being allowed unless there are reasonable grounds to refuse. 

Qld new housing bill removes refusal right on pets in rentals 

How to rent if you have pets a state by state breakdown of rules for landlords and tenants - this mentions the laws in each state, and general tips - such as providing a pet resume outlining training and references especially from previous landlords, but could also include references from a mental health professional explaining the need for the pet. I like the look of NT laws where to refuse a property owner has to take a tenant to a tribunal.

[CrazyChick]

@TideisTurning

From your comments it looks like you are wanting your pet to be a therapy animal. What is the barrier to you using a therapy animal for your work? Is it that you are not allowed your pet in your particular work location/s? Or is it that you would like to access training &/or assessment for their role working with you? If it is location then each location can choose what they require. I had one psychologist who brought her dog to work with her sometimes when working at her non-goverment office, but when she visited our town, the appointments were at the hospital so her dog was not allowed. There are many different therapy dog training organisation & some do other animals such as horses. But there is no guarantee that their training or accrediation would allow your pet with you. Have you considered a volunteer role with your pet - that could provide you with assessment & or training as a therapy animal in return for volunteer hours. Then you could probably use this assessment/training/experience to get your pet at your workplace?

[TideisTurning]

That's really interesting @CrazyChick. Thank you so much for sharing! 
For me, there've been a lot of different factors/ barriers contributing- I had been under the impression that a certain level of certification would be required, and I feel like it would be good to be able to access support to ensure a pet work partner is working well and we as a team are as effective as we can be. Also, some pets I've had simply haven't felt like the right fit for a working partnership- often very lovely either 1:1 or with familiar people, but timid or frightened in crowds or with unfamiliar people, which wouldn't necessarily be ideal for a working partnership, nor fair to my pet to put them in a situation that might make them anxious or frightened.  

I have looked into volunteer type stuff as well, though that tends to be a specific assignment, where I was hoping to be able to have more of a say/ direct where we work. However, I do really like and appreciate your idea of using that as a kind of pathway to lead into other things eventually, which I don't think had occurred to me before.  

Apart from that, I suppose my own circumstances and what I do has changed a bit over the last few years or so. Once I'm a little more settled with my work and feel like I have a pet with a suitable/ compatible temperament, I might revisit and look into a working pet partnership a little more, and your insights will definitely help. Thanks again 😊