Dr. Lisa Townsend is an Associate Professor with two decades of experience working with youth and adults with serious mental illness. She received intensive training in dialectical behavior therapy, a cognitive–behaviorally based treatment for chronic suicidal and self-injurious behavior. She has lived alongside equine, canine, and feline companions since the age of five, and has recently become an affiliate of the Center for Human–Animal Interaction at Virginia Commonwealth University. Motivated by the impact of companion animals on the clients she serves, she undertook training to inform the inclusion of animals purposefully and intentionally in therapeutic interventions and to examine the effects of adjunctive animal-assisted therapy with scientific rigor.