About the authors

Christi Williams is a physical therapist who

fell in love with animal-assisted therapy after training her dog, Layla, to be a registered therapy animal. Christi’s mission of educating people of all ages on the benefits of therapy animals came about after several years of witnessing the positive impact that Layla’s visits had on others. Her goal is to inspire others to volunteer with their dog, so that more people will experience the benefit of working with a therapy animal in the future.

Angela Bozik is an occupational therapist who helped author this book as part of her capstone project for her doctoral degree in occupational therapy. Her dog, Maisy, recently completed her training and is currently a registered therapy dog. As an occupational therapist, Angela is passionate about helping children reach their fullest potential and hopes to use animal-assisted therapy in her future practice. Her goal is to teach others about the power of therapy animals in our lives.

 Layla is a Labrador Retriever who is known as “The Rehab Lab” because she loves helping in physical therapy and occupational therapy settings.  They have also enjoyed visiting patients in oncology clinics and healthcare professionals in the ICU. Christi and Layla became a  registered team with Pet Partners in 2015.  At Belmont, they have researched the effects of therapy animals on student anxiety before exams.  Currently, Layla is 13 years old and is retired from service.   In retirement, Christi & Layla are focused on educating others about the many benefits of therapy animals in healthcare settings. 

Maisy is a 5 year old Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever who was featured in the book as a future therapy dog.  Angela and Maisy were in training throughout the writing of this book, and in 2022 they officially became a registered therapy team with Intermountain Therapy Animals.  Maisy enjoys visiting with college students and has been a part of various educational presentations at Belmont University.  As a team, Angela and Maisy look forward to educating others about therapy animals in occupational therapy settings.