Risë VanFleet, Ph.D.

Risë VanFleet, Ph.D. Author, speaker, psychologist, play therapist, founder Intl Inst for Animal Assisted Play Therapy®

Numerous interests and specialties:
Child/family psychology, play therapy, Filial Therapy, disaster mental health, chronic medical illness in children

Animal Assisted Play Therapy™ (cofounder), relationship-focused dog training and behavior, animal ethology/behavior, mutual relationships between humans and animals, ethics of human-animal relations. 45 years of experience in mental health, animal

behavior, organizational development, and more! I have separate fb pages, groups, and websites that reflect a number of these interest areas. I've created this page because my timeline is nearing the maximum-permitted 5,000 friends, and I wanted a way to explore these various interests and interact with colleagues and friends.

I'm getting excited again! 🙃 I will likely have revisions for my book, Embracing the Animal's Perspective, back from the...
05/05/2026

I'm getting excited again! 🙃 I will likely have revisions for my book, Embracing the Animal's Perspective, back from the publisher by tomorrow this time, and I'll get right to work on them. We are aiming for a July release if all goes as planned!

Coming this summer!
05/01/2026

Coming this summer!

05/01/2026
A FREE PRESENTATION ON COMPETENCIES AND 2 FREE PRESENTATIONS ON GRIEF and LOSS of animals who work with us in therapy!!!...
05/01/2026

A FREE PRESENTATION ON COMPETENCIES AND 2 FREE PRESENTATIONS ON GRIEF and LOSS of animals who work with us in therapy!!!
I'm excited to announce that in the next couple of days, this new free offering will be available! The complimentary presentation titles to be available from now until July 1 are listed below:

1. Competencies Needed for Animal Assisted Play Therapy® & Other Animal Assisted Services: What They Are, Why They Are Needed, How to Learn and Demonstrate Them (examples with multiple species) - with Dr. Risë VanFleet (including contributions from Tracie Faa-Thompson)
2. When therapy Animals Grow Old: Retirement, Animal Agency, & Anticipatory Grief - with Dr. Risë VanFleet
3. Retirement and/or Death of the Therapy Animal: Helping Clients and Therapists Through the Grieving Process - with Teri Holamon, LPC-S, RPT-S, CAAPT

More info is on the graphic here and on the site listed.

[All presentations and accompanying materials are copyrighted by their authors/presenters and the International Institute for Animal Assisted Play Therapy®. All rights reserved.]

PLEASE NOTE: MOST of my posts are on my site without the PhD after my name--just Risë VanFleet. Please follow me there (...
02/14/2026

PLEASE NOTE: MOST of my posts are on my site without the PhD after my name--just Risë VanFleet. Please follow me there (SINCE i'm very close to the 5K max of fb friends).
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She is across the room looking steadily at me. She is wagging her tail slowly. Expectant, alert eyes. I'm not sure yet what she is up to, but I'm pretty sure it will soon be revealed. She is such a great, confident, fun companion.

02/09/2026

And now a word from Shakespeare (via Ian McKellen) about strangers and immigrants in our midst.

My next book is now in the revisions stage and due out this summer! I'm excited to share these ideas!
02/05/2026

My next book is now in the revisions stage and due out this summer! I'm excited to share these ideas!

11/27/2025

For my fb followers here: facebook seems to have made it harder to share things from my main page Risë VanFleet to this one (with my degree listed). It looks like you can follow on my main page now (since I'm still at the 5000 friend limit). I post more there than here since it's no longer simple to share. So feel free to Follow on my Risë VanFleet page if you wish! P.S. if we are already fb friends there, I don't think the following works so well...

Josie always liked a rowdy play partner. Now she has one.(1st and last pics are not the same!)
11/25/2025

Josie always liked a rowdy play partner. Now she has one.
(1st and last pics are not the same!)

09/25/2025

Address

Boiling Springs, PA

Website

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