Animal Therapies Ltd (ATL) is the leading Australian institution for promoting the prevention and management of mental illness, disability, disease and suffering through animal-assisted services. This includes people at risk of, or who are, experiencing mental illness, eye disease, hearing impairment, seizures, asthma, life-threatening allergies, diabetes, fluctuating blood pressure, cerebral palsy, autism, post-traumatic stress, episodic or serious medical crises, disability, acquired brain injury, multiple sclerosis, stroke, spinal cord injury, and other physical, neurological, or psychological conditions.

ATL is seeking expressions of interest from those wanting to join our Board and Leadership team to advance the understanding, acceptance and accessibility of animal-assisted services for those in need.

During the pandemic, these needs were further heightened by lockdowns and there were many challenges faced in delivering traditional health services to growing numbers of people in need. Between 16 March 2020 and 25 April 2021, over 15.0 million people accessed Medicare subsidised mental health-related services. However, now with the cost of living crisis, many people simply do not have the funds to pay the gap and some have in fact walked away from traditional room based treatment.

ATL is a registered health promotion charity committed to assisting people through the provision of animal-assisted information and funded services. ATL is also committed to providing opportunities for education, training, and the dissemination of research, that brings clarification to the important contributions that animal-assisted services offer.

The animal-assisted services sector is made up of a range of different professionals who work within the scope of their practice alongside animals.

These types of services are goal-directed programs designed to promote improvement in people with intellectual, physical, sensory, cognitive and psychosocial conditions in which a specially trained animal-handler team is an integral part. It is directed and/or delivered by a practitioner with specialised expertise within the scope of practice of his/her profession.

Once of the most challenging aspects of our sector is the confusion around terminology. Streamlining the terminology into a simple, easy to understand framework is critical to engage funding bodies. To address this issue, ATL is committed to simplifying the sector description to provide people with a greater understanding that the classification of services relates to the qualifications of the human involved in the service delivery.

ATL needs additional board members that are willing to advocate to funding bodies, policy makers and philanthropists to help expand ATL's reach, funding opportunities and impact.

Animal-Assisted Services leverage a disrupter health support model seeking to deliver health support services differently and has grown out of this need for improved treatment acceptability as a viable alternative to traditional room-based help. The animal is the conduit between the therapist and the client, helping to foster a trusting relationship that provides comfort and promotes a sense of safety and non-judgement, expediting a therapeutic response.

ATL’s Animal-Assisted Mental Health Support funding and outreach program provides an alternative for some of the most vulnerable Australians who have given up on room-based treatment.

ATL is seeking board members with thought leadership qualities and a willingness to advocate across the broader community. Therefore ChatGPT generated applications will not be accepted.

This role is a National and can be located anywhere in Australia. This is a collaborative, action driven board position, which includes monthly zoom meeting with other board members.

Someone with a lived experience of mental health or an animal-assisted service including assistance animals are welcome to apply.