Quantitative Methods: I plan to use mixed methods to explore this question, however, there will be no control group, as the question of ethics and denying vulnerable populations the ability to benefit from a program is important to address. This study will set out to evaluate the efficacy of interventions that use AAT. To find participants, I will reach out to programs and intervention centers that use AAT (with dogs ) with youth to promote recovery in abuse and/ or mental health disorders. We will collaborate with these centers to create a structured animal assisted therapy/ intervention program that lasts 12 weeks. The ages of the youth will be 9-18 to provide an understanding of the effects of the program across age, race, and gender. The sample population would be between 20-30 youth, across a variety of gender and races. The outcomes will be measured by assessments using the Trauma Symptoms Checklist (Briere, 2008) and the Checklist and Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) (Achenbach, 1991). Youth will self-report their experiences in per-intervention tests, test during intervention, and post-test outcome evaluations that use these scales.