Daily Inspiration: Meet Linda Craddock

Today we’d like to introduce you to Linda Craddock. 

Hi Linda, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstories.
Animal Assisted Therapy Programs of Colorado (AATPC) first opened in 2010 with 2 founding therapists and 2 therapy animals – a dog and a cat. Today AATPC is on a 3 1/2-acre ranch in Arvada with 16 mental health therapists, and over 30 rescued therapy animals. AATPC meets the need for mental health counseling in a unique way. Therapy is done with the inclusion of one of our therapy animals, often outdoors with more experiential work than simply talking therapy. We have found that people of all ages heal more quickly when we can address their feelings, thoughts, and behaviors simultaneously through working with the animals. Our mission is to make Animal Assisted Psychotherapy available to everyone who needs it. Therefore, we offer a sliding fee scale and accept Medicaid. 

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
AATPC struggled early on in that people did not understand what we did. People assumed we brought animals to hospitals, schools, etc. But these programs are provided by volunteers and their pets. AATPC uses professional counselors, social workers, and therapists alongside our rescued therapy animals, here at our Arvada farm, Barking CAAT Ranch (Center for Animal Assisted Therapy). We actually call the work we do Animal-Assisted Psychotherapy, to help differentiate what we do from volunteer programs. 

Within the last 4 years, the challenge we struggle with is that there are more people requesting our services than we have capacity to see them all. Our space has been limited, but we are soon breaking ground on an addition that will double our capacity. 

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
As my job as the Executive and Clinical Director, I both oversee all aspects of the program, but also supervise and train our interns and unlicensed counselors. My background is as a Licensed Marriage, Family Therapist, with over 35 years of experience. I am known as the Director of AATPC and as “the goat lady” for my love of our therapy goats. 

I am very proud of AATPC and the unique place we fill in the mental health community. We are able to help clients that other counseling centers struggle with. Our rescued therapy animals form bonds with our clients that help each of them feel safe and allow them to address change towards more positive ways of functioning. Our motto is “Rescued Animals Rescuing People” but it also works in reverse. Our clients help our animals as well. 

I am also proud that we are able to train and employee so many amazing mental health clinicians in the field of Animal Assisted Psychotherapy. 

What sort of changes are you expecting over the next 5-10 years?
Animal Assisted Psychotherapy is becoming a more common form of therapy and is being offered around the world. My hope for this trend is that all clinicians will receive the training necessary to provide this specialty in an ethical and safe manner. AATPC emphasizes the “consent” of all involved in this counseling process. Both client and animal must choose to work together; we never force the animals or clients to participate if they choose not to. 

In the last couple of years, mental health treatment has gained some traction as so many people seek treatment with the COVID crisis. My hope is that more funding will move to this important aspect of health treatment so that finances and insurance do not continue to be a barrier for treatment. 

Contact Info:

• Email: info@aatpc.org
• Website: https://www.animalassistedtherapyprograms.org/
• Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/AATPC/?ref=bookmarks&mt_nav=0&paipv=1