Psychiatric Service Dog Tasks

Psychiatric service dogs perform task work for their handler that benefits their mental health.

What is a psychiatric service dog?

Psychiatric service dogs are trained to work for individuals with mental or cognitive health issues. They are reserved the same rights as other service dogs who work for people with physical disabilities, and they are not the same as Emotional support dogs.

Tasks they can be trained to perform

The tasks a service dog will perform are specific to their handler's individual needs, however, here are some of the most common :

• Deep pressure therapy

• Grounding

• tactile stimulation

• Distraction

• Facilitate social interaction

• Crowd control

• Wake from nightmares

• Medication reminders

• Alert to oncoming episodes

• Keep safe during episodes

• Light pressure therapy

• Interrupt episodes