The Paw-fect Presentation on Integrating Service Dogs Into Your Practice

Laura A. Curtis, MSN, PMHCNS-BC, PMHNP-BC will present Paws at My Feet: Integrating Facility-Based Psychiatric Service Dogs into Nursing Practice at the upcoming APNA 39th Annual Conference. Having worked with facility-based psychiatric service dogs directly and mentoring others to begin this work, Curtis hopes this presentation will encourage attendees to consider integrating psychiatric service dogs into their own practice. As a psychiatric-mental health nurse who had never owned a dog before she began working with them, Curtis now relies on them in her personal life and clinical practice.

For Curtis, integrating service dogs into clinical practice is more than a care strategy. It is a life-changing commitment that parallels the journey of becoming a nurse. The ongoing investment in training, education, and daily partnership with these dogs becomes a way of life. For Curtis, this integration has not only enriched her practice but fundamentally reshaped how she understands her role as a psychiatric-mental health nurse.

APNA: The Annual Conference has not seen many service animal-based presentations. Was there a specific moment or experience that sparked the idea for this presentation?

Curtis: Most presentations on psychiatric service dogs are focused primarily on policy, safety, or medical contexts and almost never included the dogs themselves. People may be missing the ‘why’ behind using these strategies, and I want to share my why. It is vital to disseminate our work in order to honor the work that has occurred with patients and colleagues and to support the research and work to come.

“This is a psychiatric-mental health nursing topic, not simply a service or therapy dog topic…Working with these dogs has helped me consider what it is to be a nurse.”

— Laura A. Curtis, MSN, PMHCNS-BC, PMHNP-BC

APNA: How did reflecting on your experience with service dogs shift or deepen your understanding of your own practice as a psychiatric-mental health nurse?

Curtis: These dogs have helped me consider what it is to be a nurse. As a PMH nurse, I don’t know that I would have formed the same connections and outcomes in practice without their use in another way, using another method. That realization helped me understand that this is a PMH nursing topic, not simply a service or therapy dog topic.

APNA: What are you most excited to teach, and what do you hope fellow PMH nurses walk away thinking differently about?

Curtis: Using service dogs has been transformative to my practice. I am hopeful to connect with other PMH nurses who are interested in integrating service dogs into their practice. I initially integrated the use of facility-based psychiatric service dogs at a time we were working to prevent coercive interventions in a major way, and their impact has resonated over a decade. Even innovations that seem far-fetched (no pun intended!) initially, can prove to have a grand purpose overtime. I hope to both inspire nurses to explore this innovation for themselves and consider integrating it into their own practice.

APNA: Have there been any powerful patient breakthroughs that you feel wouldn’t have happened without the presence of a service dog?

Curtis: There have been many powerful patient breakthroughs with the use of service dogs. That was part of the challenge for developing this presentation…deciding which to include! Through the years, patients have had powerful breakthroughs credited to the dogs. I often encourage handlers I meet to keep a collection of stories, pictures, and testimonials so that they can be reminded of the powerful work they engage in. I honestly can’t say if there would have been a different way to have these impressive patient breakthroughs; the credit goes to the dogs.

You can view Curtis’s full presentation in person in New Orleans or via virtual livestream on Thursday, October 16 at the APNA 39th Annual Conference. Fetch your registration here!