Emotional Support Animal For Housing
An emotional support animal for housing is an animal that helps to alleviate symptoms of stress and anxiety that often impair emotional stability and emotional behavior. This kind of animal is not a service dog or a pet in general, but a pet specifically trained to provide emotional support and assistance to a person suffering from a disability that affects their emotional well-being.
What An ESA Helps With
Emotional support animals are trained to provide affection, companionship, and safety to a person who is experiencing the onset of a mental or psychiatric disability that affects their ability to care for themselves. In some cases, they provide the primary caretaker of a household with the assistance necessary to ensure that the senior member of the family is cared for properly and safely.
Some people who receive this service are children, elderly adults, and people suffering from a debilitating mental or psychiatric disability. This animal may also be required due to the location of a pet that causes constant disturbance in the person’s environment.
Sometimes, a companion pet can be a valuable member of a family, and their own personal caretaker, but there are sometimes certain limitations to the emotional support that a service animal provides.
For example, if the pet is trained to assist a person with the use of a bathroom, but that person has a physical, neurological, or learning disability that prevents them from performing certain tasks safely, the animal will need to be left at home until that person can safely perform those tasks on their own.
Similarly, if a physically challenged individual needs the emotional support of a pet that can walk them around and assist them when they become overwhelmed by the environment, they may need to leave the animal at home until the person is able to return home and retain the services of a caring and trained companion animal. Again, the animal will need to be house trained before being allowed to remain at home for extended periods of time.
Getting Your ESA Letter
It is important to remember that a skilled mental health provider should provide a letterhead listing all of the following information: the full name of the recipient; the first name of the handler; the last initial and middle name of the handler; the address of the handler in the case of an emergency; the phone number; and the social security number of the recipient.
The letterhead should also list the medication that the patient is currently taking as well as any other medications that they have previously been given. It is also important that the letterhead be signed by the handler in a place that the recipient can easily identify the signatory. A good recommendation from a mental health provider will go a long way in assuring the proper placement of an emotional support animal.
Once you have completed the application for a disability allowance, it is important that you return it to the same location where you filled the form. This ensures that you receive a copy of the application and are aware of its contents when it is time to pick up the animal. It is crucial that you fill out and return the application form completely and truthfully.
If anything is omitted or removed, the application will be deemed incomplete and this could cause the application to be returned as incomplete. You should also take some time to check over the application in order to make sure that it accurately lists all of your information. Any mistakes on the application could jeopardize your chance of receiving the emotional support animal.
In summary, an application for housing with an emotional support animal should be completed and returned to the landlord along with a written letter explaining why and how the animal would help the person. The letter should also list all of your current medications as well as other information in regards to your mental health.
Always remember to fill out and return the housing allowance application completely and truthfully. The landlord will want to know the truth so that he can make an informed decision about whether you will be granted the accommodation or not. If you are denied, you should request a written explanation of the rejection and you should also request that a reference number is included with your letter.