Meet milly, my co-therapist.
Animal-Assisted Therapy in Pittsburgh, PA
You're exhausted from feeling like traditional talk therapy just isn’t reaching you.
It’s like words alone aren’t enough.
Maybe you've sat across from a therapist before and felt like you were just talking at a wall. Opening up isn't always about finding the right words, sometimes your body and nervous system need something more grounding before the words even come. You're not broken, and you're not "bad at therapy." You just might need a different way in.
This is where animal-assisted therapy comes in. Whether we're working with Milly or your own pet, having an animal present can help regulate your nervous system, build trust faster, and create the kind of safety that makes real emotional work possible, often in ways that pure talk therapy can't reach on its own.
I'm not just a therapist who happens to like dogs, I'm also a Certified Professional Dog Trainer (CPDT-KA). That means the animal side of this work isn't guesswork, it's grounded in real expertise in animal behavior and welfare, alongside my clinical training as an LPC.
If you're interested in dog training for your own pet, or you're curious whether therapy dog work could be a good fit for your dog, I offer dog training, therapy dog evaluations, and coaching services at Wags with Mags PGH, LLC.
what you’ll learn here:
Sessions with Milly
If you don't have a pet of your own, or just want the experience of working with a trained therapy animal, Milly is available during our sessions. She brings a fun, genuine energy to the room, the kind that makes it easier to drop the performance and just be real, especially for clients who find it hard to settle into traditional talk therapy.
Animal-Assisted Interventions with Your Own Pet
If you already have a pet, we can incorporate them directly into our work together. This might look like noticing how your body responds when your pet is near, or using that bond as a tool for grounding and co-regulation during tough moments in session.
Building Skills That Carry Beyond Our Sessions
Through a body-based and attachment-informed lens, we'll work on recognizing what safety actually feels like in your body, building your capacity to self-regulate, and strengthening your ability to form secure, trusting connections, with people, not just pets.
Therapy with me is…
Real therapy, Milly or your pet is just part of the process
A way to feel safe and settle in faster
Still all about you and what you actually need
Totally optional, we only do it if it feels right for you
Therapy with me is not…
Just hanging out with a cute dog
A shortcut around the hard emotional stuff
Something you have to do every session
A gimmick, this is backed by real clinical approaches
How Our Pets Help Us Most
01
co-regulation
Animals have a way of calming our nervous system just by being near us. In session, that calming presence can help regulate your body before we even get into the harder stuff.
02
connection
Pets offer connection without judgment or expectation. That kind of steady, unconditional presence can make it easier to trust, open up, and lower your guard.
03
safety
Having an animal in the room can make vulnerable moments feel less exposed. That sense of safety is often what makes the real emotional work possible.
When all is said and done, here’s the thing:
You are more resilient than you give yourself credit for, even on the days only your pet seems to notice.
Questions?
FAQs
-
Totally up to you! Some clients bring their own pet into sessions, others prefer working with Milly, and some like a mix of both depending on the day. We'll figure out what works best for you.
-
No worries, your pet doesn't need any formal training to be part of our sessions. We'll work with whatever your pet brings to the room, and if it's ever not a good fit, we can always switch to working with Milly instead or skip the pet piece altogether.
-
Yes! Animal-assisted therapy is billed the same as a regular therapy session, so if you're using insurance (Highmark, UPMC, Cigna or Aetna), it's covered the same way.
Let’s get started.