PHILIP TEDESCHI, LCSW MSSW 

Clinical Professor, Graduate School of Social Work, University of Denver

Founder and Director Emeritus, Institute for Human-Animal Connection, University of Denver

Philip Tedeschi is the Director Emeritus and Founder of the Institute for Human-Animal Connection and a clinical professor at the Graduate School of Social Work. He is globally recognized for expertise in the clinical methods of animal-assisted Interventions and coordinates the school’s animal-assisted social work certificate program for Master of Social Work (MSW) students, as well as the animals and human health professional development certificate program. He received his MSSW degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where his specialization was the bio-affiliative connection between people and animals.

He studies and teaches on the intricate relationship between people, domestic and wild animals, and the natural world. Tedeschi’s research, scholarship, presentations, training, and community practice work have focused on issues of social and interspecies justice, global perspectives of human-animal interactions, conservation social work, human ecology, causes of violence toward people and animals. He specializes in the therapeutic and health promoting potential of human-animal and nature interaction, trauma informed methods and intervention in interpersonal violence, including assessment and intervention with cruelty and animal abuse.