
Just For You!
Summary of this page's current items:
Report Your Hours
Pay Your Membership Dues
The Photo Box Photography
Upcoming Team Assessment
Dog Language Class Dates
ITA Crisis Response Team
ITA Bonfire Store
Giving Fur-iends
Feature Your Therapy Animal

Report Your Hours
We ran some numbers and learned that only 23% of our volunteers report their hours each month! Reporting your hours is extremely important for ITA for a number of reasons:
We have wonderful supporters: foundations, grants and individuals who enjoy hearing how their funds are furthering our mission, how many hours are given to our communities and how many lives have been impacted by our services. Without their support, our organization could not continue—it’s that simple.
It helps us know who is visiting where. When we get special requests for visits to a specific location we will know who to call.
It is a requirement that you agreed to when you signed your Volunteer Job Description. You sign this job description at orientation, and have a copy in your own manual (page 225 approximately).

Pay Your Membership Dues Online
Please check the back side of your badge to see when your membership dues expire.
We hope that you and your partner(s) have been enjoying this volunteer experience together and that you’re looking forward to continuing visits long into the future. The difference you make in the community is monumental and does not go unnoticed! Remember, paying your membership dues enables you to continue your active status as an ITA team and maintains your liability insurance coverage.
If you have any questions, concerns, or stories to share please don’t hesitate to contact us. We are here to support you! Thank you for all you do!

The Photo Box Photography
Spring Portrait Event
April 15th and 16th
4050 S. 2700 E., Salt Lake City
The Photo Box Photography is coming back to Intermountain Therapy Animals
for Spring portraits in 2023!
Animal or family portraits are welcome! For only a $30 donation to ITA, you will receive a 10 minute portrait sitting and one 8″x10″ gift print on the spot. Many more prints are also available online at www.ThePhotoBox.com following your portrait sitting.
To reserve your spot, contact Melissa Byrd at (801) 272-3439 or schedule online here:
https://thephotoboxanditaspringportraitevent.as.me/schedule.php

Upcoming Team Assessments
Sunday, June 11th
Please check your badge. If you and your therapy partner are due to re-test, please sign up for an assessment!
To sign up, contact Karen Burns:
Karen@TherapyAnimals.org OR (801) 272-3439
Location: ITA Office
4050 S. 2700 E. Salt Lake City, UT

Continuing Education Class:
Understanding Dog Language
By Katherine Cookson
Upcoming Classes:
Thursday, April 13 at 2 pm - Part 1
Thursday, April 27 at 2 pm - Part 2
Saturday, August 26 at 9 am – Ogden - Part 1
Saturday, September 9 at 9 am – Ogden - Part 2
Thursday, October 19 at 6 pm - Part 1
Thursday, November 2 at 6 pm - Part 2
There are two parts to this class that are 2 weeks apart from each other. Part II is optional and optional class designed to offer time for individualized follow up from Part I.
All teams are required to take this class within their first year of volunteering. If you have already taken it, you do not need to sign up again, but you are welcome to. If you have never taken this class, please sign up, it is a wonderfully educational experience. The class is free to our ITA members and $10 for additional guests you might like to bring. Please note that Part II is an optional class, designed to offer time for individualized follow-up from Part I. You do not have to attend Part II but you are invited to.
RSVP:
(801) 272-3439 or email Melissa@TherapyAnimals.org
Class description:
Dogs communicate volumes with their bodies. Learning to “read” what our dogs are saying requires that we observe the subtleties of expression, posture and movement, as well as muscle tension, orientation and use of space. It also requires we interpret our observations accurately.
This Dog Language class is based on the science of Ethology and Animal Behavior, Proxemics and Kinesics, and lays a foundation for understanding dog language. We focus on the signals likely to be seen in therapy scenarios, discussing techniques for maintaining communication throughout a visit that enable us to respond appropriately to our partners’ experiences.

ITA Crisis Response Team
Sign up to be a part of the team!
ITA is putting together a Crisis Response Team; a group of volunteers who are willing to participate in immediate crisis situations. If you would like to join, you will be a part of a group where ITA will be able to send out any requests we receive for those who are directly affected from a crisis or the first responders who were on site. This will be 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.
This is an effort from ITA to be able to provide powerful relief and support for those who experienced shock, loss, and/or grief. You do not have to be available and ready for all crisis events to be a part of this group, but you do need to be willing to respond when you are able to!
Once a team is formed we will provide additional training in regards to working with individuals going through traumatic events. (There is no charge for the training.) We will also invite you to belong to an App that will better help us get the word out quickly when teams are needed.
Please email Karen@TherapyAnimals.org for questions or to become a part of the team! We are hoping for teams in every local chapter (Salt Lake City, Ogden, and Utah County)!

Bonfire Store:
Fun Shirts by ITA!
If you missed out on getting yourself any of our cute shirt designs in the past, the worry is over! All of our past Bonfire Campaigns are now available again!
Every purchase from our store on Bonfire gives ITA a percentage of the sale. This is a fun way to support ITA while also getting yourself or someone else a fun and unique shirt!

Giving Fur-iends
Call us today!
Help us give with these stuffed therapy fur-iends! Send one, five, or 24 stuffed dogs accompanied by a book to give to patients at a facility of your choice!
Give a gift of $25 and we will send 1 cuddly fur-iend and a book to a patient at a facility of your choice, or as a gift to any child you request!
Give a gift of $100 and we will send 5 sweet fur-iends and books!
Call Intermountain Therapy Animals at
(801) 272-3439 to send some cuddly Fur-iends!

Feature Your Therapy Animal!
Send us pictures!
Do you want your therapy animal featured on our social media? Send us any pictures you have, we'd love to put them on our Facebook and Instagram!
Send pictures to:
Text your pictures to: (801) 885-4917
Send them on Instagram: @Intermountain.Therapy.Animals
Or email them to: Lilly@TherapyAnimals.org