Critical information about Emotional Support Animals, including practice-related legal/ethical issues ESA services can pose

Interview-style, with Elizabeth Irias, LMFT

  • Course Description

    Many clinicians are being asked to write letters about their clients’ Emotional Support Animals, but what does that really mean for both the client and the clinician? This course covers what Emotional Support Animals are and how to differentiate them from other assisted animals, and also covers the basic ethical, legal, and practical considerations about ESA letter-writing. The fact is that ESA letter-writing can have major consequences for client and clinician alike, and it's a choice clinicians should carefully consider before typing out 'the letter'.

  • Learning Objectives

    Upon completing this course, participants will be able to: Identify the differences between Service, Emotional Support, and Therapy Animals; Describe two or more laws that apply to Emotional Support Animals; Identify at least one element of how to certify an ESA


    Target Audience and Instructional Level
    This course is intended for psychologists, therapists, social workers, clinical counselors, and addiction counselors. Instructional level: Introductory

  • How To Take This Course

    In order to receive a certificate of completion reflecting the associated CE credit hour, you must:
    #1: Have an active paid Clearly Clinical membership
    #2: Listen to the corresponding course podcast
    #3: Achieve a passing grade on the post-presentation test (the test has up to ten questions and you must earn a score of at least 80%; users can re-test up to three times. After three attempts, users are advised to re-listen to the audio course in its entirety and then subsequently re-test. Psychologists who are seeking CE credit may not be awarded credit if they attempt to pass the post-test more than three times.)
    #4: Complete the requested course evaluation.

    Course elements (including the course audio, post-test, and requested course evaluation) can be completed on a computer or mobile device via your Clearly Clinical account.

  • Course Format

    This high-quality and interesting course contains a one-hour, non-interactive audio podcast presentation which is available for free via all major public podcast providers. You can also listen to and download the file via our course player.

  • Commercial Support

    There is no known commercial support or conflict of interest for this CE program, content, sponsor, or instructor.

  • Certificate Access Details

    Once you've completed the course, your certificate will automatically populate in the 'Certificate' section of your account; it will also be emailed to you. Access to completion certificate will expire 365 days after issuance. Course certificates will be on file for ten (10) years from date of course completion.

  • Accommodations

    If you have special needs or need an accommodation, please email us at [email protected] and we will do our best to assist you.

Expert Interviewee and Interviewer

Ariel Landrum, LMFT

Teletherapy and ESA Expert

Ariel Landrum is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and Certified Art Therapist and Clinical Director of Guidance Teletherapy. She is a proud Filipino American currently practicing out of Reseda, California. She is a self-identified “geek therapist,” who enjoys using pop culture in her treatment work. Her father was in the military for 24 years which resulted in her growing up on in four countries, four US states, and one US territory. Ariel has worked in school, home-based, military bases, hospital, residential, and methadone clinic settings. She has worked with couples, families, children, adolescents, and groups. Populations and issues she specializes in includes struggles for military members and their families, LGBTQ+ issues, and surviving childhood sexual assault. She started Guidance Teletherapy Coop in hopes of providing affordable mental health treatment to individuals throughout the U.S. and increase support for therapists in private practice.

Elizabeth 'Beth' Irias, MS, LMFT

Interviewer & Clearly Clinical Founder

Elizabeth 'Beth' Irias (she/her) is a licensed Marriage & Family Therapist and the Founder and President of Clearly Clinical. She has specializations in Clinical Documentation, Best Practice, and Utilization Review, and works closely with clinical teams across the US as a trainer and national conference presenter; Beth was formerly an adjunct professor at Pepperdine University in the Graduate Psychology and Education department. Licensed in California and Oregon, she provides therapy via her private practice to young adult and adult clients, members of the LGBTQ population, and those with addictive disorders. She has two young children, a super cool spouse who helps out with Clearly Clinical's tech, and a rescue dog.

See why we're the country's premier CE provider

  • CONVENIENT: All courses are 1-hour podcast episodes, available on all public podcast platforms

  • AFFORDABLE: We offer quality CE courses through a reasonably-priced membership

  • SOCIALLY-RESPONSIBLE: We donate to The Trevor Project for LGBTQIA+ youth suicide prevention

  • WOMEN-OWNED: We are founded and run by Elizabeth Irias, LMFT

  • DIVERSE: We highlight expert presenters from historically-marginalized communities

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