Psychiatric Service Dogs
To qualify for a Psychiatric Service Dog (PSD) approval, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires the handler to have a psychiatric disability established by a licensed mental health professional or physician.
In addition, psychiatric service dogs must be fully obedient and trained to perform a task that directly helps with the handler’s disability. The task must go beyond just giving the handler support. You can train your own dog to perform these tasks or contact us for professional training.
If you’d like to be approved for an PSD, you must be registered as a patient, thus establishing on-going professional relationship with your provider, participate in a diagnostic psychiatric assessment, and if your provider approves you to use a PSD, it will be part of a treatment plan.
To get PSD approval
1. You will register as a client on a HIPPA compliant teletherapy platform (Therapy Portal).
2. Your provider will contact you by email or telephone to schedule a clinical assessment. Your provider will determine whether you have a qualifying condition.
3. If approved, you will receive a PSD approval letter by email and in your portal documents within 1 business day. Your approval will be valid for 12 months from the date of your clinical assessment.
4. You must maintain an active, on-going, professional relationship with your provider.
Legal Questions
According to the Americans with Disabilities Act, there are only two (2) legal questions you can be asked:
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Is this a service dog for a disability?
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What service, task, or work has the dog been trained to perform?
Psychiatric service dogs are allowed on all forms of transportation: airline, bus, train, boat, ride-share, along with all forms of housing, hotel, most vacation rentals, schools, businesses, stores, offices, and in public free of charge, without restrictions, so long as the service animal does not cause an "undue burden" on the facility and the PSD is under control of the handler at all times. You are 100% responsible for the behavior of your PSD at all times.