Hello and welcome. It is episode number 42 of the hilarious humanitarian's podcast where we're

going to be talking about all about pets and mental health. My name is Francis Etchevaria,

licensed marriage and family therapist. Hi guys. I'm Deanna Silverman, licensed clinical social worker.

You can find us online. We can be found on Instagram, hilarious humanitarian on Instagram or humanitarian mom.

Let's see, we have our shared podcast Instagram account, H. Humanitarians podcast.

And you are Shut Up Skippy on Instagram and Shut Up Skippy on Snapchat, right?

And yeah, and shut up skippy.com.

So as we're getting started, we want to thank you for being here.

Please, if you've not done so already, you can go ahead and rate our podcast and subscribe.

If you're listening and you follow us online, you know that we're both pet people.

So today we've got some research on how pets can improve your mental health a poll diana did on the subject which

we'll jump into in just a moment and shared stories from our listeners we asked about your

animals and how they make you feel and boy did those start rolling in we're also going to

touch briefly on how therapy or emotional support animals is a real

thing but can be misused. And we'll do the whole self-care pushing your comfort zones at the

end of the podcast as well. But before we get started, just a friendly disclaimer that the hilarious

humanitarian podcast is for informational purposes only does not constitute medical advice

and is not a substitute for professional

medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Please always seek the advice of your physician,

mental health professional or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have

regarding a medical condition. So, Deanna, you did a poll online. Yeah. So I know I do have a lot of

pet lovers, but this article that we're going to be

...