Assistance Animal Occupational Therapy (AAOT) sits at the intersection of human health, disability, animal welfare, community participation, risk management and multidisciplinary practice. An AAOT may work with people and animals in homes, clinics, workplaces, educational environments and community settings, and may encounter situations involving human or animal injury, medical emergencies, mental health crises, family violence or other immediate safety concerns.

WAFA does not expect Occupational Therapists to become paramedics, veterinarians, psychologists, counsellors or domestic and family violence specialists. However, AAOTs need sufficient foundational knowledge to recognise when something is wrong, respond safely within their scope, provide an appropriate initial response, and obtain specialist assistance when required.

For this reason, WAFA requires applicants to complete four areas of prerequisite training before commencing the AAOT Credential:

1. Human First Aid and CPR — HLTAID011 Provide First Aid and HLTAID009 Provide Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation
2. Animal First Aid — ACMGEN309 Provide Basic Animal First Aid
3. Mental Health Crisis Response — 11379NAT Course in Initial Response to a Mental Health Crisis, or Mental Health First Aid (MHFA)
4. Domestic and Family Violence — CHCDFV001 Recognise and Respond Appropriately to Domestic and Family Violence

These requirements are deliberately obtained through external training providers. WAFA does not seek to duplicate established training where appropriate nationally recognised or specialist training already exists. The AAOT Credential instead builds upon that foundation by asking applicants to consider how the knowledge applies specifically to assistance-animal Occupational Therapy practice.

Applicants will therefore also complete the associated AAOT Prerequisite Training Reflection and Application Workbook. The workbook does not re-examine the external qualification. Instead, it uses reflective questions, assistance-animal scenarios and practice-based case studies to explore how the learning transfers into AAOT practice.

Human First Aid and CPR

Required training

Applicants must hold current:

• HLTAID011 — Provide First Aid (valid for 3 years); and
• HLTAID009 — Provide Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) (valid for 12 months).

Note that HLTAID009 is generally offered as part of the HLTAID011 qualification.

Why is this relevant to AAOT practice?

Occupational Therapists already work with people who may have complex disabilities, medical conditions and support needs. Assistance-animal work can additionally take the OT into environments outside a conventional clinic, including clients’ homes, community environments, workplaces, public spaces, training environments and other locations where immediate clinical assistance may not be available.

A medical emergency can also occur during an assistance-animal assessment or intervention without having anything to do with the animal.

For example, an AAOT may encounter a handler, family member, colleague or member of the public who experiences a fall, injury, seizure, choking episode, loss of consciousness or other medical emergency.

The presence of an assistance animal may also create additional considerations during an emergency. The practitioner may need to consider what happens to the animal if its handler is transported by ambulance, how emergency personnel can safely access the person, whether the animal itself is distressed, and who can assume temporary responsibility for the animal.

First aid training does not make an AAOT an emergency medical practitioner. It provides a foundation for recognising an emergency, taking appropriate immediate action, working within the practitioner’s competence and obtaining further assistance.

Why WAFA requires it

WAFA considers basic human first aid and CPR an essential component of safe community-based AAOT practice.

The requirement is intended to support practitioners to:

• recognise common medical emergencies;
• provide an appropriate initial response;
• understand when emergency assistance is required;
• respond to incidents occurring during assessments, training or community activities;
• consider the assistance animal as part of emergency planning; and
• reduce foreseeable risks to handlers and other people encountered during professional practice.

The AAOT workbook will extend this learning into assistance-animal-specific situations rather than asking applicants simply to reproduce first aid theory.

Animal First Aid

Required training

Applicants must hold current:

ACMGEN309 — Provide Basic Animal First Aid.

Why is this relevant to AAOT practice?

The animal is not a piece of assistive equipment. It is a living participant whose health, welfare and safety must remain central to AAOT practice.

An AAOT may be present when an assistance animal becomes ill or injured, or may be the first professional to notice something concerning during an assessment, home visit, public-access observation or other interaction.

Examples might include injury, bleeding, heat stress, choking, poisoning, collapse, wounds, burns, musculoskeletal injury or sudden changes in behaviour that may indicate pain or illness.

AAOTs also need to understand the limitations of first aid. Animal first aid is not veterinary diagnosis or treatment, and an OT must not move beyond their training and professional scope simply because they have completed an animal first aid qualification.

Knowing when not to intervene and when immediate veterinary assessment is required is itself an important professional skill.

Animal emergencies can also affect the handler. Injury or sudden illness involving an assistance animal may produce significant distress, interrupt disability-related supports and create immediate practical issues regarding transport, communication, veterinary treatment and alternative human supports.

Why WAFA requires it

WAFA requires animal first aid because an AAOT has professional responsibilities concerning the welfare of the animal with whom they are working.

The training provides a foundation for:

• recognising potential animal emergencies;
• providing appropriate immediate first aid within competence;
• obtaining veterinary assistance promptly;
• avoiding actions that could worsen an injury;
• planning for emergencies involving an assistance animal;
• recognising when changes in behaviour may warrant veterinary investigation; and
• incorporating animal health and welfare into professional risk management.

The AAOT workbook will ask applicants to apply this knowledge to realistic assistance-animal situations, including circumstances in which the appropriate professional response is to stop, seek veterinary advice or refer rather than attempt to manage the issue themselves.

Mental Health Crisis Response

Required training

Applicants must complete either:

11379NAT — Course in Initial Response to a Mental Health Crisis (lpreferred)

OR

the Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) course.

Why is this relevant to AAOT practice?

AAOT practice may involve people experiencing significant psychological distress or mental health difficulties, whether or not mental health is the primary reason for their assistance animal.

An assistance animal can also become deeply connected with a person’s independence, identity, routines, social participation, sense of safety and ability to manage disability.

Consequently, events involving an assistance animal can sometimes precipitate or intensify distress. Examples include:

• an animal becoming seriously ill;
• retirement or loss of an assistance animal;
• an animal failing an assessment;
• an animal being deemed unsuitable for assistance work;
• loss of public-access capacity;
• inability to obtain funding;
• separation from an animal;
• an animal being injured;
• animal-welfare intervention; or
• sudden changes to a person’s disability supports.

An AAOT might therefore encounter a person experiencing severe distress, suicidal thoughts or another mental health crisis even where the OT’s role is not the provision of mental health treatment.

The practitioner needs to be able to recognise concerning signs, communicate appropriately, respond within scope and obtain suitable assistance.

Why WAFA requires it

The purpose is not to turn AAOTs into mental health clinicians.

WAFA requires this training because practitioners need a basic, consistent framework for recognising and initially responding to mental health crises that may arise during professional practice.

The training supports AAOTs to:

• recognise signs that someone may require urgent mental health support;
• communicate appropriately with a person experiencing distress;
• respond appropriately to disclosure of suicidal thinking;
• understand the limits of their own role;
• escalate or refer when required;
• consider immediate safety; and
• work effectively with mental health professionals and other members of the person’s support network.

The AAOT workbook will focus particularly on situations in which the assistance animal itself is connected with the crisis, requiring the practitioner to consider human wellbeing and animal welfare simultaneously.

Domestic and Family Violence

Required training

Applicants must complete:

CHCDFV001 — Recognise and Respond Appropriately to Domestic and Family Violence.

This unit is available free of charge via DV-alert.com.au

Why is this relevant to AAOT practice?

Domestic and family violence can affect disability, occupational participation, housing, finances, access to healthcare, decision-making, relationships and the person’s ability to care for or remain with an assistance animal.

Animals themselves can also be used within coercive control.

Threatening, harming, withholding, abandoning or controlling access to a valued animal may be used to frighten or control another person. A perpetrator may also interfere with veterinary care, training, feeding, medication, equipment or access to the animal.

For an assistance-animal handler, controlling the animal may have an additional effect because the animal may provide disability-related tasks necessary for independence and participation.

An AAOT may encounter indicators of domestic or family violence during a home visit, assessment or ordinary conversation even though family violence was not the reason for referral.

Practitioners therefore need to know how to recognise possible indicators without assuming that they are investigators, how to respond safely to a disclosure, and where specialist support should be sought.

Why WAFA requires it

WAFA requires this training because assistance-animal practice frequently involves the person’s home, family, support network and everyday occupations. AAOTs therefore need an appropriate foundation for recognising circumstances in which safety or coercive control may be affecting the person, the animal or both.

The training assists practitioners to:

• recognise potential indicators of domestic and family violence;
• understand coercive and controlling behaviour;
• respond appropriately to disclosure;
• avoid responses that may inadvertently increase risk;
• recognise that animals may themselves be victims or mechanisms of coercive control;
• identify when specialist services should become involved; and
• consider safety planning for both the handler and assistance animal within the boundaries of the OT role.

The workbook will extend this to assistance-animal-specific scenarios, including situations where control over the animal means control over the person’s disability support and occupational participation.

Applying the Training to AAOT Practice

Completion of the external qualifications establishes an important foundation, but holding a certificate alone does not demonstrate that an applicant can apply the learning appropriately within assistance-animal Occupational Therapy.

Applicants will therefore complete the AAOT Prerequisite Training Reflection and Application Workbook after completing these requirements.

As with the Foundation Learning Reflection and Application Workbook, applicants will not be expected simply to repeat definitions or memorise course material. Activities will focus on professional reasoning.

The workbook will include:

• short formative reflective questions;
• detailed assistance-animal case studies;
• questions requiring applicants to identify what they would do next;
• scope-of-practice considerations;
• human and animal safety and welfare;
• interdisciplinary consultation and referral;
• emergency and contingency planning;
• reflection on assumptions and professional judgement; and
• opportunities to revisit earlier responses as the applicant progresses through the AAOT Credential.

There may not always be one correct answer. Applicants should demonstrate that they can recognise risk, identify what they do and do not know, remain within scope, seek appropriate assistance, and consider the rights, safety and welfare of both humans and animals.

Evidence, Currency and Ongoing Requirements

Applicants are responsible for ensuring that all required qualifications are current at enrolment and remain current throughout their AAOT studies and, where applicable, following graduation for the duration of any WAFA credential, accreditation, certification or membership for which the qualification remains a requirement.

Where a qualification has an expiry or recommended renewal period, the credential holder is responsible for completing refresher training and retaining evidence of currency.

Because these requirements are based primarily on nationally recognised training, WAFA generally does not accept non-accredited courses as substitutes.

The exception is the mental health requirement, for which WAFA accepts either 11379NAT Course in Initial Response to a Mental Health Crisis or an approved Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) course.

Reasonable Adjustments

WAFA recognises that the practical assessment requirements of some nationally recognised qualifications may create barriers for practitioners with disability.

Where disability prevents an applicant from completing a required practical component, WAFA will consider reasonable adjustments and alternative evidence on a case-by-case basis in accordance with its disability inclusion and reasonable adjustment policies.

For example, an applicant may have attended and participated in first aid training but be physically unable to demonstrate a particular procedure required for competency assessment. In appropriate circumstances, WAFA may accept a letter from the RTO confirming attendance and participation and explaining why competency could not be formally achieved.

This does not mean that safety-critical knowledge is disregarded. WAFA will consider what the applicant needs to know, recognise, arrange or direct within their actual AAOT role, what reasonable adjustments are appropriate, and whether additional supports or risk controls are required.

Applicants requiring an adjustment should contact WAFA to discuss their circumstances and appropriate evidence.

Providing Evidence to WAFA

Applicants must provide evidence of successful completion and currency of the prerequisite training.

For nationally recognised training, applicants may provide a JP-certified copy of the relevant Statement of Attainment, certificate, qualification transcript or other official completion record issued by the RTO.

Alternatively, applicants may provide their Unique Student Identifier (USI) and written consent authorising WAFA to verify relevant nationally recognised training through their USI transcript.

Documentation and enquiries can be sent to admin@workinganimals.com.au.

Because Mental Health First Aid is not a nationally recognised VET training product and does not appear on a USI transcript, applicants using the MHFA pathway must separately provide a JP-certified MHFA certificate or other official evidence of successful completion.

Future Dog First Aid Requirement

WAFA is aware of work towards nationally recognised dog first aid training within the Australian VET system.

If an appropriate nationally recognised training product becomes available and is suitable for the AAOT Credential, WAFA intends to consider it for inclusion as an additional prerequisite.

Existing students and credential holders will be advised of any implementation date, transition period and evidence requirements before the requirement takes effect.

Download Your Foundation Learning Reflection & Application Workbook

The document below contains the reflective questions, professional prompts, scenarios and assistance-animal case studies associated with the foundation learning in this section.

Please download and save your own copy before beginning.

You may start completing it as you undertake the foundation learning and return to it throughout the AAOT Credential as your knowledge and professional reasoning develop.

Foundation Learning Reflection & Application Workbook – PART 1

AAOT Foundation Learning Workbook Part 1

Keep the workbook accessible throughout AAOT.

You are likely to return to it more than once.