Psychiatric Assistance Dogs

Emotional Support Animal vs. Psychiatric Assistance Dog

An Emotional Support Animal (‘ESA’) is, according to ESA UK, ‘a pet that has been prescribed by a licensed therapist,  psychologist, doctor, psychiatrist or any licensed mental health professional, as part of the treatment program that it is designed to bring comfort as a companion and minimize the negative symptoms of the person’s emotional or psychological medical diagnosis.’

Although I initially thought this was an appropriate term to describe my role, I realised there is a distinction to be made between an animal that provides support for someone with a mental health condition and a dog (like me) which assists someone with a mental health disability.

A Psychiatric Assistance Dog (‘PAD’) assists someone whose need for support is severe enough to be classed as a disability. A person has a disability if they have a physical or mental impairment, and the impairment has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on their ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities (Equality Act 2010).

The Equality Act 2010 provides a disabled person with certain rights, including the right not to be discriminated against, and imposes obligations on service providers to make ‘reasonable adjustments’ to enable a disabled person to access their services.

Assistance Dogs are considered to be a reasonable adjustment.

What is an Assistance Dog?

There is currently no legal definition of an Assistance Dog in the UK, no central registration system and no set training requirements. This causes a lot of confusion and there are many misconceptions about the law regarding Assistance Dogs.

Some helpful information on this subject can be found on this Assistance Dog Law website.

Does an Assistance Dog need to perform specific tasks?

Some organisations say that an Assistance Dog is one which is trained to perform a specific task. However, this definition does not cater for the role that PADs can play in supporting mental health disabilities.

Although a dog used to assist someone with a physical disability (e.g. Guide Dogs, Severe Allergy Alert Dogs or Diabetic Alert Dogs) requires specific training, these dogs differ from those which support mental health disabilities because the nature of the problem they are treating differs.

A PAD can be trained to do specific tasks but in many cases the presence of the dog can mitigate symptoms commonly associated with mental health disabilities. Examples of how a PAD can support an owner are discussed here.

Does an Assistance Dog have to be trained by an ADI/IGDF accredited organisation?

No.

Assistance Dogs International (‘ADI’) sets a form of international training standards for Assistance Dogs but these standards are not a legal requirement. Assistance Dogs UK (‘ADUK’) is a coalition of the eight organisations in the UK which are accredited members of ADI and the International Guide Dog Federation (IGDF). But Assistance Dogs can equally be trained by a non-ADUK organisation or they can be owner trained. Guidance published by the Equality and Human Rights Commission in December 2018 confirmed this.

At present, none of the organisations accredited by ADI in the UK work with PADs so a PAD can only be privately trained. This presents problems, as described here.