February 7th, 2020 marked our 7th year anniversary as a legal entity. The state of the pandemic crisis around the world leaves us with heavy hearts for all the fear, uncertainty, illness and losses that are now all too commonplace. With the current crisis, AAII announces that our Annual Conference in Zagreb, Croatia (September/October 2020) has been cancelled. We are not rescheduling at this time, but will be investigating other online options for continuing education. If you have extensive knowledge in this area, please contact me personally at melissa@dogwoodtherapy.com I saw a social media post today that said something to the effect of.
We don’t need to socially distance, we need to physically distance.
Let’s socially come together and support each other.
You are all very important to us, and to each other. AAII reminds you to take care of yourselves and take care of each other, family, friends, neighbors and those who are vulnerable. You can do this by avoiding spreading the virus. Stay home, use your voice and talk to others on the phone, write more, read more, play training games with your dog’s more, take this time to increase your own knowledge and perhaps the knowledge of others. Many people are doing short, fun and informational videos for AAA, AAT, AAE and AS areas. If you are so inclined make a video and send us a link. You can post your videos on You Tube, for example, and it will give you a link to share. We are happy to post it in the AAII Members Only Facebook Group. Share activities, training tips, program development, a presentation you have done in the past, or anything related to AAIs. If you are not a member of the AAII Members Only Facebook group, just look us up, and send us a message with your current membership number. Let’s create some social support for each other and create opportunities to grow and find some happiness during this difficult time. We are all in this together. We all send you our thoughts, prayers and positive energy to stay safe and healthy.
Melissa Winkle, OTR/L, FAOTA, CPDT-KA
President, Animal Assisted Intervention International