Learning, Support and Your AAOT Journey

AAOT is designed as a flexible, self-paced and professionally supported learning experience.

Although you will undertake substantial independent learning, self-paced does not mean working in isolation.

Discussion, reflection, feedback, consultation, interdisciplinary learning and engagement with other professionals are important parts of the AAOT process.

Throughout the credential, we encourage you to:

Learn → Apply → Reflect → Ask → Discuss → Receive Feedback → Research → Reconsider → Integrate → Apply Again

You are not expected to begin AAOT already knowing everything covered by the credential.

You are expected to be willing to learn, recognise the limits of your knowledge, ask questions, seek appropriate professional input and develop your reasoning over time.

Sometimes an entirely appropriate professional conclusion will be:

I don’t know yet. I need more information.

Or:

This is outside my professional scope or individual competence. I need to involve another professional.

Recognising uncertainty and knowing when, where and from whom to seek further information are important professional skills.

Please Ask Questions

If you are unsure about something, please ask.

Questions might relate to:

• course content;
• assistance-animal practice;
• occupational therapy;
• animal welfare;
• animal training or behaviour;
• law or policy;
• ethics;
• safeguarding;
• professional scope or individual competence;
• assessment requirements;
• evidence and research;
• terminology;
• portfolio or Capstone work; or
• how different parts of AAOT fit together.

If something in AAOT appears unclear, contradictory or potentially incorrect, tell us.

If an external link stops working, tell us.

If you find credible evidence that appears to challenge something taught within AAOT, bring it to us.

If a case study raises an important question we have not asked, ask it.

Professional education should encourage questions rather than simply require participants to memorise information.

Your AAOT Trainer and Point of Contact

You will be allocated a trainer/assessor who will act as a primary point of contact throughout your AAOT Credential.

Your trainer may periodically contact you to check your progress and provide support, but you do not need to wait for your trainer to contact you.

You are encouraged to contact your trainer or WAFA whenever you require clarification, feedback or support.

The relevant participant email account will ordinarily be checked at least once every 48 hours.

This does not mean that every enquiry can necessarily be fully answered within 48 hours. Some questions require research, consultation, assessment review or input from another professional.

Complex questions may therefore take longer to resolve.

Where careful consideration is required, we would rather provide a considered response than a rushed one.

Email Support

Participants can contact WAFA by email throughout the credential.

Email is particularly appropriate for:

• private or sensitive questions;
• individual progress matters;
• assessment-specific questions;
• workbook material submitted for feedback;
• reasonable-adjustment requests;
• individual circumstances; and
• matters that should not be discussed in a public or group setting.

AAOT participant support email: AAOT@workinganimals.com.au

If WAFA cannot appropriately answer a question ourselves, we may help you identify another professional, organisation, resource or avenue that is more appropriate.

Join the AAOT Community of Practice

Participants are strongly encouraged to join and participate in the WAFA Assistance Animals for Occupational Therapists Community of Practice.

The Community of Practice provides opportunities to interact with:

• WAFA staff;
• other AAOT participants;
• AAOT graduates and Credential Holders;
• occupational therapists;
• assistance-animal professionals;
• animal training, behaviour, health and welfare professionals; and
• professionals from other relevant disciplines.

The Community of Practice can be used to ask general questions, discuss learning, share useful resources, explore appropriately de-identified scenarios, discuss research and emerging issues, consider ethical dilemmas and hear different professional perspectives.

A question you ask may also help other participants who were wondering the same thing.

Private, sensitive, individual assessment or potentially identifiable matters should be directed privately to WAFA or your trainer.

Participation does not require frequent posting. Reading discussions and considering the perspectives of other participants and professionals can also contribute to your learning.

Don’t Work in Isolation

Assistance-animal practice is inherently interdisciplinary.

Discussing a problem with another occupational therapist, veterinarian, animal trainer or behaviour professional, psychologist, physiotherapist, social worker, lawyer, orientation and mobility specialist or another relevant professional may reveal considerations that were not obvious from your own disciplinary perspective.

Different professionals may also disagree.

That can be useful.

Instead of immediately asking which person is “right”, consider:

Why are they approaching the problem differently?

What professional responsibility, knowledge or expertise informs their position?

What might each perspective be overlooking?

What evidence would help resolve the question?

Does hearing another perspective change my own reasoning?

AAOT is not intended to turn occupational therapists into veterinarians, lawyers, psychologists, animal trainers or members of another profession.

Part of advanced professional practice is developing the judgement to recognise when another perspective is needed.

AAOT Is a Self-Paced Credential

AAOT is intended to accommodate occupational therapists completing advanced professional learning alongside professional practice and other responsibilities.

Participants may also be balancing employment, family, caring responsibilities, disability, health, other study and everyday life.

Some periods will therefore be more productive than others.

The credential is self-paced, but participants are expected to remain engaged and demonstrate reasonable continuing progress.

If you need to slow down or take time away from AAOT, please contact us.

Communication is important.

A planned period away from the credential that has been communicated to WAFA is different from ceasing participation without contact.

How Long Should AAOT Take?

For occupational therapists completing AAOT alongside work and other responsibilities, approximately 18–24 months is expected to be a realistic timeframe for many participants.

Individual circumstances will vary, and some participants may require longer.

AAOT is deliberately not designed as a short intensive credential.

Even where you have sufficient time to rapidly complete reading or written work, professional learning requires opportunities to:

Learn → Practise → Reflect → Discuss → Receive Feedback → Revisit → Integrate

Some of the value of an early workbook response may only become apparent when you revisit it months later and recognise how differently you now understand the issue.

The objective is therefore not to complete AAOT in the shortest possible time.

The objective is to graduate having developed the professional knowledge, practical competence, judgement and reflective capacity expected of an AAOT Credential Holder.

If You Need Time Away

Life happens.

If illness, disability, family circumstances, work, caring responsibilities or another significant issue means that you need to pause or substantially reduce your AAOT work, contact us.

There is no need to quietly disengage because you believe you have fallen behind.

We can record the circumstances and discuss your intended return to study.

Participants whose enrolment extends over a substantial period should be aware that assistance-animal practice is not static. Legislation, evidence, professional standards, external training and credential requirements may change during your enrolment.

Where necessary, current or time-limited requirements may therefore need to be updated before graduation.

Reasonable Adjustments and Accessibility

Self-paced learning is not a substitute for reasonable adjustment.

If disability, neurodivergence, illness or another relevant circumstance creates a barrier to accessing AAOT or demonstrating competency, please contact WAFA as early as practicable.

You do not need to wait until you are overwhelmed, unable to complete an activity or approaching an assessment deadline before asking for assistance.

The general principles governing reasonable adjustment and competency are explained in How Assessment and Competency Work in AAOT.

If you are unsure whether an adjustment may be available, ask us.

A Note About WAFA’s Capacity

WAFA operates within a specialised sector in which demand for information, advocacy and professional guidance can be substantial.

Our staff capacity is finite, and there may therefore be periods when responses take longer than we would ideally like.

Please allow reasonable time for responses and follow up if you believe something has inadvertently been missed.

Complex matters may also require consultation, research or referral to another professional before we can provide an appropriate response.

We encourage you to remain in contact rather than assuming that you are expected to resolve every question independently.

Use Feedback Throughout the Credential

You do not need to wait until a major assessment is complete before seeking feedback.

Where appropriate, you may bring developing ideas, questions, workbook responses or professional reasoning to your trainer, WAFA or the Community of Practice.

Feedback might also come from people already available within your professional and personal networks.

Depending upon the issue, this could include:

• occupational therapy colleagues;
• managers or supervisors;
• veterinarians;
• animal trainers or behaviour professionals;
• allied health professionals;
• workplace health and safety professionals;
• researchers or academics;
• other AAOT participants;
• WAFA staff;
• members of the Community of Practice; or
• other appropriately knowledgeable people within your existing networks.

For example, you might ask a colleague to recommend literature relevant to an unfamiliar area, discuss a professional dilemma with another occupational therapist, ask a veterinarian about an animal-health concept, or seek practical feedback on a workplace resource from someone with relevant expertise.

The purpose is not to have another person complete your assessment.

It is to use consultation, feedback and professional collaboration as part of your learning.

Where feedback or consultation materially contributes to assessed work, acknowledge that contribution where appropriate.

The Most Important Message

You do not need to do AAOT alone.

Take the time you need while continuing to make reasonable progress.

Talk to your trainer.

Email us.

Submit developing workbook material for feedback.

Ask questions.

Join the Community of Practice.

Talk to other participants and professionals.

Tell us when something is unclear.

Tell us if you need time away.

Request reasonable adjustments when you need them.

Revisit your earlier thinking.

Use what you develop throughout AAOT to build toward your portfolio, Capstone and professional practice.

AAOT is self-paced, but it is not intended to be solitary.