My Bio
Dr. Geller is the Director of Canine Essentials, Dr. in Nursing (PhD Psychiatric Risk Assessment & Management), Canine Behaviourist, Certified Professional Dog Trainer and Head Trainer of Canine Essentials who holds a nationally recognised dog behaviour and training qualification, completing additional modules to extend her expertise; which includes Assistance Dog training, Work Health & Safety, Complex Skills training and Scent Detection. She trains Assistance Dogs (with a client base that focuses on mental health animal assisted treatment modalities). As a Dr. in Nursing with a PhD in psychiatric risk assessment and management, and a Registered Nurse, she also is a skilled counsellor/therapist, focusing on Acceptance Commitment Therapy and Animal Assistance Therapy (fully insured). She has also completed an Honours degree (First Class), is a Sociologist with a focus on Risk Theory.
Of particular interest to her is advocacy for health care issues such as the ethical aspects of patient admissions and need for holistic care, assistance animals as a treatment modality, legislative and policy adherence in relation to the use of assistance animals and protecting vulnerable groups in Australia. Her focus of research is in the area of dog-human relations in the context of health, concentrating on assistance animals and mental health.
She is skilled in all areas of dog training spanning over 20 years and is passionate about dogs and in particular, the humane treatment of them. She is a force free trainer and also, advocates for both their humane treatment and is passionate about advocacy for “humans” with disabling conditions. She focuses on complex skills training and scent detection using positive reinforcement and force free methodology and uses a combination of the skills she has acquired both as a Dr. in Nursing, Registered Nurse and as a Canine Behaviourist to ensure the dogs and their human counterparts receive the best possible experience when working as a team with Dr. Geller.