Leslie Stewart Presents at Conferences

Assistant Professor Dr. Leslie Stewart was invited to present at the conference a talk on "Professionalizing the Handler: Honoring the Relationship through Competency Development” at the Professionalizing the Passion First Annual Pet Partners Conference. Dr. Stewart's presentation oriented attendees to the Pet Partners Tiered Competency model for handlers with volunteer, paraprofessional, or professional identities, with particular emphasis on animal welfare, ethical considerations, and handler training. The presentation was the highest rated presentation at the conference. 

Stewart was also an invited presenter at the Animal Assisted Interventions 2nd Annual Conference entitled, "Creating a Competent, Compassionate, Cross-disciplinary Future" at Oakland University's Center for Human Animal Interventions (CHAI). The conference is to help current and future practitioners who want to incorporate animal assisted interventions into their practices. Leslie's presentations were on Provider Competencies and Session Planning. Her role play partner was a border collie- golden retriever cross named Karma.