Are People with Dementia Disregarded in Counselling? How Animal-Assisted Therapy Fills the Gap

When we talk about mental health and counselling, we often focus on approaches like talking therapies or CBT. But for individuals with dementia, these methods can feel distant, frustrating, or even irrelevant. Dementia affects language, memory, and reasoning, tools that traditional therapy leans on heavily. So, where does that leave someone like my mum who has dementia and Alzheimer’s?

This question became personal for me. Watching my mum’s world shrink with dementia is so sad, but I notice something beautiful too, her face lights up every time she is around animals. That joy and recognition stays even when words are difficult. It inspired me to write my dissertation on animal-assisted therapy (AAT) and individuals with dementia.

I did not just research it, I live it. My therapy dog, Orla, has become an essential part of my mum’s life along with the horses, dogs, her own cat and even the sheep’s and cows on the hills. Their presence not only brings my mum absolute joy, but it is also soothing. She does not need to ask questions, does not require explanations. She just is. That is the power of Animal Assisted Therapy.

Why Traditional Counselling Often Falls Short

Most counselling models are built on conversation, reflection, insight. But dementia chips away at these abilities. As verbal and cognitive skills decline, the risk is that individuals are left out of the therapeutic conversation altogether. And sadly, they often are.

Even creative therapies like music, art, or movement, while more accessible, still rely on some level of comprehension or expression. They can help, yes. But they do not always connect on a truly intuitive level.

What Animal-Assisted Therapy Offers Instead

Animal-Assisted Therapy does not need words. It does not ask for logic, memory, or explanation. It is relational, sensory, and emotional, meeting the person exactly where they are, without demand.

Here is what Animal-Assisted Therapy brings to someone with dementia:

• Presence and Non-Judgment: Animals do not see dementia. They do not notice confusion or repetition. They just offer consistent, warm presence.

• Sensory Connection: Stroking a dog, feeling fur, hearing a purr or pant. These sensations can ground someone in the moment in a way that transcends language.

• Emotional Regulation: Interaction with animals is shown to reduce agitation, anxiety, and loneliness. For someone with dementia, that calm can mean fewer outbursts, better sleep, or simply more peace.

• Routine and Meaning: Simple tasks like walking a dog or feeding them provide structure, purpose, and a retained sense of responsibility, even if support is needed.

• Relational Bridge: Sometimes a dog becomes the link between a person with dementia and their family or carers. Conversations happen around the animal. Smiles are shared and connection happens.

It is not therapy in the traditional sense, but it is healing.

A Call to Rethink What Counselling is

We need to expand what we call “therapy.” People with dementia deserve support, engagement, and care that honours their dignity, not just their diagnosis. Animal-Assisted Therapy is not a replacement for all therapy, but for many, it can be the most meaningful form of connection they still have access to.

And it is time the counselling world embraced that more fully.

If you are working with individuals with dementia, personally or professionally, consider how animal companionship might not just comfort, but truly help people, anyone in fact, to connect. Therapy does not always have to talk. Sometimes, it just needs to wag its tail.