An Emotional Support Animal (ESA) is a person's pet that has been approved and prescribed by a licensed mental health professional. The animal must offer some type of therapeutic benefit like alleviation from anxiety or depression and does not require specialized training. The animal helps relieve the disability which may have otherwise limited a person on one or more major life activities. The ESA letter is written by your therapist, psychologist, or psychiatrist to ensure this form of therapy can stay housed with or travel with you. The ESA animal is part of an essential treatment program and is designed to bring comfort or minimize outcome of an emotional/psychological disability.

A Psychiatric Service Dog (PSD) is a trained animal that has been approved by a licensed medical doctor, therapist, or psychologist (any licensed mental health professional.) PSDs are trained to help those with special psychiatric conditions and can learn commands like fetching, alerting, and leading. Dogs can be taught to interrupt psychiatric issues or behaviors to redirect dysfunctional patterns like obsessive compulsive disorder or anxiety attacks. Psychiatric Service Dogs are an integral part of keeping those with real medical issues calm, supported and safe. Easing their suffering, and giving the freedom and independence everyone deserves. Conditions that may qualify for a PSD include: Post traumatic stress disorder, panic attacks, schizophrenia, depression, bipolar disorder, borderline personality disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, autism spectrum disorder and eating disorders. Positive effects of owning ESA’s and PSD’s include a decrease in hospitalization, over-medication and suicide attempts.

Emotional Support Animals can qualify to provide support for a person with a mental health condition regardless of species. Unlike service dogs, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) doesn’t cover them being brought into restaurants, stores, hotels and airplanes. Typically people have dogs, cats, birds, reptiles, or other small animals as an ESA. Owners and pets are protected under fair housing laws but other public places are not required to accomodate. Psychiatric Service Dogs can be purchased from local organizations that breed or train PSDs or from a shelter. Consider the breed, temperament and age of the dog. It is important to select the right dog that exhibits an eagerness to please, and can be trained to accept the appearance of strangers and difficult situations. Calm dogs without aggression, jumping, biting or distractable demeanors is a must. There is no restriction on breed, and there isn’t a specific training program required. The only requirement is that the service dog performs directly related tasks to the owner’s disability. Service dogs can be brought into public establishments, unmarked, but many prefer to register their dog with Emotional Pet Support to keep their rights protected.

In order to legally qualify for an ESA, a person must be considered emotionally disabled by a licensed mental health professional as struggling with a disability and prevented from completing one or more major life activities. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) of Mental Disorders is managed by global professionals and experts and serves as the authoritative manual to categorize conditions and help in the diagnosis or treatment. The clinician provides a properly formatted ESA letter which includes:

1. You are currently their patient.
2. You are under their care for the treatment of mental disability found in the DSM IV or V (the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, version 4 or 5.)
3. Your disability substantially limits at least one major life activity
4. They prescribe the emotional support animal as a necessary treatment for your mental health.
5. The letter must be dated, written on their letterhead, include the license type, number date of licensure and state in which the license is valid.

View a Sample ESA letter. Emotional Pet Support provides all the tools necessary to complete the process of qualifying your pet as an Emotional Support Animal.

Before the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) was implemented, the protections offered for individuals utilizing animals for medical and emotional support were limited. Under Title II of the ADA, individuals with ESAs must have a reasonable accommodation for their animal as an assistive aid. Since that time, the provisions have been modified, providing a greater scope of protection for service animals (SAs) and emotional support animals (ESAs), as well as the individuals who own them or utilize their services. However, it is very important to understand that ESAs are not permitted to be in as many places as service animals.

The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development passed the Fair Housing Amendment Act of 1988. This law protects your rights to living in a "No Pet" policy dwelling unit with your Emotional Support Animal.

Unfortunately, due to the difficult nature of being reimbursed by insurance companies for emotional support animal exams, we regret that we are not able to accept medical insurance at this time. In light of this, we have tried our best to make the approval process as easy and as affordable as possible.

We contract with a team of mental health professionals who are licensed in multiple states. All of our consultants are active clinicians with established practices conducting mental health assessment, treatment, and disability determination.