PORTLAND, OR – September 12, 2016 – Pediatric eating disorder treatment facility Kartini Clinic today announced the introduction of animal-assisted therapy as part of its overall treatment program, according to Kartini Clinic chief medical officer Julie O’Toole MD.
In collaboration with licensed therapist Lisa Peacock LMFT, Kartini will bring four different animals to the clinic—a chinchilla, a skink (lizard), a hedgehog, and a small dog—for the purposes of teaching coping skills through animal interaction.
“This is not the first time we’ve employed pets in therapy,” O’Toole said. “Some years back we used a therapy dog who helped us break through to a completely verbally unresponsive, very sick young boy, with amazing success. Last year that same boy graduated from Stanford.”
Peacock will be implementing groups focused on life skills using animals that have been trained specifically to work with people. As founder of the Peacock Foundation, she brings five years of experience working at The Phoenix Zoo and The Los Angeles Zoo education departments which led her to get her Master of Education in counseling focusing on animal assisted interventions. She has been partnering with animals in her work for the past 14 years.
Peacock has been working directly with the clinical staff at Kartini Clinic to develop a program that enhances existing therapy focusing on life skills, including communication, relationship, and conflict resolution skills using animal interventions as the means for discussion and learning.
“The animals will not only be used for physical touch, but integrated into the discussion and used to represent skills that are being taught,” Peacock said. “We will focus on social interaction of the child with the animal and use it as a starter for a getting to know a new person and what it means to make a new friend. Through animal interaction they can work through excitement, anxiety, fear, and other issues.”
Through her work at the two different zoos Peacock saw firsthand how comfortable children become around animals and subsequently transfer that trust to the person who brought the animals to them.
About Kartini Clinic
Kartini Clinic is an internationally recognized pediatric eating disorder treatment program. Since 1998 the clinic has treated more than 3,000 children and young adults with all forms of disordered eating. Using an evidence-based, medical approach to the treatment of eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and food phobia, as well as those whose disordered eating contributes to unwanted weight gain, Kartini Clinic's multidisciplinary staff of pediatricians and licensed psychotherapists is one of the most experienced in the country. Kartini treats patients from all over the country and all walks of life, and works closely with several regional coordinated care organizations (CCOs) to address the needs of underserved Medicaid populations. Founded by Julie O'Toole MD, Kartini Clinic is a family owned business whose senior clinical and administrative leadership is composed almost entirely of working mothers.
