At Denver Health’s STEP program, a quiet revolution is underway—one that involves wagging tails, gentle nudges, and the kind of unconditional acceptance that only a dog can provide.

For teens in recovery from substance misuse, walking into therapy can be a challenging experience. Many carry the weight of anxiety, depression, ADHD, or other co-occurring psychiatric conditions. And for young people who are part of marginalized groups, traditional treatment settings can feel intimidating, clinical, or simply unsafe.

But when Pauletta, a therapy dog, joined sessions during a pilot project in early 2023, something remarkable happened. Teens completed twice as many sessions when Pauletta was in the room compared to those without a canine companion in the session.

That initial success led to the Canine Assisted Therapy program, which is designed to transform how Denver Health’s therapists provide care among the approximately 800 young people served each year.

While animal-assisted therapy has shown promise in other populations—veterans with PTSD, individuals with autism—there’s been no standardized curriculum for therapists working with adolescents in community mental health settings. The goal is clear of the program at Denver Health is clear: to help teens complete the critical 90-day threshold of treatment that research shows predicts positive outcomes.

Through a partnership with Victory Service Dogs, an organization specializing in training dogs for veterans, Denver Health’s program is training three therapy dogs. Three therapists have been selected to participate, learning not just how to work alongside their canine partners, but how to integrate dog-assisted therapy into evidence-based treatment for substance misuse.

The Denver Health therapy team has already started to modify the canine therapy program with the hope that the curriculum and evaluation methods could be used to train therapists more broadly.

Direct Relief’s Fund for Health Equity supported the STEP program with a grant via Eli Lilly and Company.

This video was directed, produced, and edited by Oliver Riley-Smith Cinematography.