Animal Therapy Volunteer Requirements
Have you always wanted to do animal assisted therapy? Do you have a wonderful pet that you think would be a great therapy animal? We would LOVE to mentor you on your journey to becoming a registered animal therapy team with your pet and sharing SOUL: Sharing Of Unconditional Love!
The SOUL Harbour Ranch Animal Therapy Program is a recognized 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization with an all-volunteer staff. Volunteers train, handle and transport our miniature therapy horses, therapy dogs and therapy cat to visits at outside facilities such as nursing homes and retirement communities, schools, homes for abled and disabled children, veteran facilities, libraries, and community events. We provide an opportunity for the participants that we visit to see, pet, brush, hug, read to and love our special therapy animals.
*Volunteers must be a minimum age of 14, no exceptions. If a volunteer is under the age of 16, a parent must be present at all times, for both training and visits. For volunteers under the age of 18, a parental consent must also be signed. Each volunteer handler will be required to obtain signed release of liability waivers from all participants of the therapy or activity visits.
INTERESTED IN VOLUNTEERING?
Future miniature therapy horse volunteers must first join our organization as part of the "Feed and Clean" crew (or Equine Sanitation Engineers!). We will teach you how to feed our herd, clean our barn and care for our animals. Morning and evening shifts are available (pending our availability). The feed and clean commitment is once per week on a regularly scheduled morning at 8:00 or 8:30am or evening 5:00pm for approx 1.5-2 hours. It's a great way to meet our herd and our volunteers! Must be able-bodied and not mind hard work. Also need to be able to lift (w/help) muck buckets to dumpster. Enjoy time in the barn and get your best thinking done!
If after reading through this information you want to join us, please reach out to us through the Contact Us email. We will contact you to talk about your availability and if this would be a good fit. If we move forward, we will send you a volunteer application and liability form and arrange an orientation date.
For those who want to train to become a registered Pet Partners handler, after you have become experienced caring for our herd through feeding and cleaning, we will then invite you to join our training sessions. We want to make sure you know how to take care of our barn and our animals to keep them healthy and happy before we mentor you to become a registered Pet Partners handler.
We are blessed to have such amazing handlers and we are confident that your participation will add to the success of our Animal Therapy Program! We are very lucky to have registered miniature therapy horses, registered therapy dogs, a registered therapy cat, plus miniature donkeys and 2 miniature pigs involved in our program. With the help of our volunteers, our special therapy animals share their unconditional love...it's what they do best!
What is required of you to volunteer as a Pet Partners handler for SOUL Harbour Ranch?
There is a required minimum volunteer commitment of 2 sessions per month. (Of course if you would like to volunteer more that is perfectly fine!). Sessions include working with our therapy animals at SOUL Harbour Ranch (in Barrington), doing training sessions (walking, petting, grooming, showering, loving!) as well as attending on-site and off-site visits such as at schools, outings, libraries, hospitals, nursing homes, etc. On-site training sessions require at least 2 hours of training commitment 2x/month. Off-site visits will vary for time depending upon the off-site location and type of activity or therapy visit. Handlers should be willing to spend time prepping, visiting and returning to the barn after the visits are complete when visiting with our miniature therapy horses. For those that have their own animals, you may still come to the barn prior to the visit of you can meet us at the visit.
Pet Partners Requirements
All SOUL Harbour Ranch Animal Therapy Program volunteer handlers are required to enroll in the Pet Partners Handler course. Pet Partners’ Therapy Animal Program is the national gold standard for animal-assisted therapy. Pet Partners trains volunteers and screens volunteers and their pets for visiting animal programs in hospitals, nursing homes, rehabilitation centers, schools and other facilities. The program was established in 1990 to ensure that “both ends of the leash,” people as well as animals, are well-prepared to participate in animal-assisted activity and animal-assisted therapy programs. Pet Partners’ Therapy Animal Program is the only national registry that requires volunteer training and screening of animal-handler teams. Aligning with Pet Partners and ensuring we only allow registered/tested therapy animal teams at outside visits is what sets the SOUL Harbour Ranch Animal Therapy Program apart from others. Standards of Excellence ensure competency AND safety!
The Pet Partners Handler course provides information and training that will prepare the students and their animal to work effectively as a Pet Partners team in a variety of environments. Our volunteer handlers must complete the program through Pet Partners within 3 months from their start date and must completed for our volunteers prior to off-site visits. An in-class hands-on course, for the handler only, is available at periodic times through the year (check Pet Partners for dates and locations). The course cost is $80, to be paid for by each volunteer. See www.petpartners.org for more information.
Handling evaluations/testing will be conducted by Pet Partners after the handler has worked with our miniature horses, dogs, miniature donkeys or your own animals for a minimum 6 months. Testing and passing both the written and hands-on evaluation is required before volunteers can handle at visits. The testing cost is $20 per animal, to be paid by each volunteer. This testing will be required every 2 years with each horse/team to ensure continued Pet Partners registration. Testing is arranged through SOUL Harbour Ranch for miniature horse testing but please check the www.petpartners.org. website for testing for dogs, cats and other potential therapy animals. There is also a Pet Partners membership fee for individual handlers, which is good for 2 years. These fees are paid for by each volunteer. This fee also includes liability insurance through Pet Partners for visits for $2 million.
Volunteer handlers who will be working with our animals will be required to demonstrate training competence as deemed by SOUL Harbour Ranch Animal Therapy Program Directors in a variety of settings for the safety of all involved. Once we feel you and our animals are comfortable with one another, you may work with the animals and train independently (walks, ground behavior, horses feeling comfortable with hugs, tying, etc…all FUN training!). SOUL Harbour Ranch Directors and those volunteers who have completed this competence evaluation are the only volunteers who may work with the horses with the permission of SOUL Harbour Ranch.
For those of you that would like to join SOUL Harbour Ranch with your amazing pet
We highly recommend that you train with us during our summer Therapy Dog Initiative May-Sept. If outside of this timeframe, we highly encourage you to attend the Chicagoland Dog Rescue training in Medinah, as LuAnne Smith is the trainer (she is our trainer as well, and she also oversees the training and evaluations for Northwest Community Hospital AAT).
You will need to become a registered Pet Partners Handler before you and your animal can start visiting with us. You first need to take the online Pet Partners Handler course, which provides ALL of the information, such as aptitude and skills tests, that you will need to pass. You then will sign up for the in-person testing with your animals once you have mastery of the skills and aptitude tests. Once both of those components are complete and you receive a registered letter from Pet Partners, meaning you are also insured, you can then start visiting with us!
Activity and therapy visits will be coordinated through SOUL Harbour Ranch. Events will be posted through our Volunteer App "Track it Forward" and through email communication. Volunteers will sign-up for visits and training as their schedule permits. The number of volunteers that are available for each visit as well as the number of people we will visit will determine the number of therapy animals that may attend. It is required that there is at least one registered Pet Partners handler for each registered therapy animal. The miniature therapy horses will be transported in our minivan or trailer. For those of you with your own animals, you will provide your own transportation for your animals.
Prior to activity and therapy visits all therapy animals must be cleaned and well-groomed. At visits, volunteers will ensure that all visitors are offered and use a hand sanitizer prior to and after each contact with our therapy animals. This will ensure the safety of both people and horses.
As a handler for SOUL Harbour Ranch Animal Therapy Program visits, you will be a representative of our very professional program. We expect that you will act in a professional manner and be dressed in SOUL Harbour Ranch attire at every visit. SOUL Harbour Ranch name badges will be provided to volunteers. Also, make sure you wear closed toe and comfortable shoes (getting stepped on by a horse is never fun, even if they are minis!).
A signed release of liability will be required of all volunteers. This requires an explicit understanding of the Equine Activity Liability Act. This release of liability discusses the inherent risks associated with equine activities and will release SOUL Harbour Ranch of all liability involving training and visits.
Finally, we’d like to thank you once again for your interest in the SOUL Harbour Ranch Animal Therapy Program. We are proud to be the Barrington area's premier animal therapy program and Chicagoland's only comprehensive animal therapy program with different breeds of animals! We welcome your passion, time and dedication which will make our organization a success. Please watch our social media (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter) for upcoming visits and events, or feel free to CONTACT US!
Phone: 855-408-7685
Jodie Diegel, RN, MBA, Founder/President SHR ATP