Millions of people throughout the U.S. and the world struggle with emotional issues that affect their day-to-day lives. Common mental health diagnoses include PTSD, depression, anxiety, OCD, and phobias, all of which can have a significant impact on a person’s overall well-being. There are many treatments available for people who struggle with mental health disorders, and one of the most popular treatments these days is using an emotional support animal (ESA). These lovable, furry friends are there to listen without judgment, cuddle when loneliness feels overwhelming, and bring your spirits back up when they are low. However, ESA letter scams are on the rise, so how can you ensure that you qualify and go through the proper process?
Here, we have compiled a guide for those seeking ESA letters for their own or for a loved one’s mental health disorder. ESA letters are prescribed by a licensed mental health professional (LMHP) and are required for an animal to enjoy the legal rights of an ESA, including the right to live in almost any housing.
Luckily, there are reputable sites that can give you a legitimate ESA Letter, and we’re here to help you find them. To learn more about the process of obtaining a legal and valid emotional support animal letter, read on.
What the Process of Getting an ESA Letter Online Looks Like
You may be wondering if you need to jump through a lot of hoops to get an ESA, if it costs a fortune, and how to avoid scams. Thankfully, when you work with a legitimate site, like US Service Animals, the process is actually quite simple; you can actually start it right now by reaching out to us here.
Matching You With a Licensed Mental Health Professional
Our ESA Letters are legitimate because the process to get one involves a consultation with an LMHP in your state. The registration starts with asking you for some personal details, like your name, your pet’s name, and where you live.
The great thing about having your ESA letter consultation with us is that it is 100% risk-free. If you are, for some reason, denied an ESA letter, you will not be charged.
Essentially, our ESA letter service boils down to these steps:
- Call to see if you qualify for a free consultation or just to ask us a question about the process.
- A licensed mental health professional will be assigned to you; depending on the state you live in, you may only need one short phone call with them to receive your ESA letter.
- You don’t pay anything unless the mental health professional confirms you qualify for an ESA and grants you an ESA prescription letter.
- There’s absolutely no risk to you, so give us a call!
ESA Letter for Housing – Receiving Your Letter
Once your consultation is over and you have been approved for an ESA, you will receive your ESA letter for housing immediately via email; you can show this to your landlord digitally or print it out to present to them. Now you can use your letter to live with your animal without worry.
That’s all there is to it! Once you have your letter, you can show it to a landlord to prove you can live with your ESA in nearly any housing.
How to Get an ESA Letter For My Dog or Cat?
If you already have a dog or a cat that helps you feel comforted and supported, it’s very likely your LMHP will prescribe your animal as an ESA as long as you qualify. Unlike a service animal, an ESA doesn’t need specific training, so any animal you already live with and you find helpful can very likely get an ESA letter using the process described above.
If you work with US Service Animals, we’ll ask about any animals you currently live with and would like to have prescribed as an ESA early in the process to help make things simpler.
Do Different States Have Different ESA Requirements?
While there are federal laws that provide a baseline for what constitutes a legally valid ESA (i.e., having your ESA prescribed through an ESA letter), there are some additional requirements in certain states. For example:
- In Colorado, it is illegal for a medical provider to write an emotional support animal letter without “sufficient evidence” of the diagnosed disability.
- As of now, five states (Arkansas, California, Iowa, Louisiana, and Montana) require you to have at least a 30-day professional relationship with a mental health professional before they can write your ESA letter.
- In Illinois, a landlord can ask that you correct “bad behavior” from your ESA; if you don’t correct your animal’s behavior, their housing rights may be rescinded.
- In Georgia, any animal (including an ESA) that whines, barks, or meows for 10 consecutive minutes may result in a fine.
Luckily, at US Service Animals, we’re on top of all local ESA laws and will ensure that your ESA letter meets any specific requirement, and our legal team will help you ensure your ESA doesn’t violate any state laws.
What Type of Animal Can Be an ESA?
While certain animals are more commonly used as ESAs and are naturally suited to offering emotional support can be trained for specific emotional support, such as dogs or cats, any domesticated animal can work as an ESA.
The most common emotional support animals are dogs, cats, birds, and rabbits, but there are some unique ones out there as well, such as pigs or hedgehogs. Choose an emotional support animal that truly calms you and benefits your lifestyle.
Does Your ESA Need Training?
No, your animal is not required to be trained in order to become an emotional support animal. However, landlords are allowed to say no to you living with your ESA if they are destructive or aggressive, so it’s important they are trained to be well-behaved, calm, and quiet.
What Does an ESA Letter Say?
An ESA letter is written by a practicing licensed mental health professional and must include their license number, type, and the date it was issued. Furthermore, it needs to contain the date the ESA letter was issued and the signature of the LMHP who issued the ESA letter.
The ESA letter must diagnose you with a mental or emotional condition that qualifies for an emotional support animal prescription. It often explains that the animal is necessary for you to live a full lifestyle and specifically helps with symptoms caused by the diagnosed mental condition you have.
Sometimes, the ESA letter may list the specific animal/breed you chose as your animal, although this is not necessary. It will contain your name and any details the LMHP thinks are valid, and it will contain their recommendation that you use an ESA in treatment for your mental disorder so that you can function fully and feel more comfortable.
When the proper process is followed, this letter is a legally valid prescription and will help apartment complexes, landlords, etc., see that your animal serves a purpose.
What Are the Benefits of an ESA Letter?
You may wonder if acquiring an ESA letter is necessary or worth it. However, the process of getting one can be incredibly simple, and the legal benefits are absolutely worth it for many.
A legally valid ESA grants your animal the legal right to:
- Live with you in almost any housing, including most apartments, condos, townhomes, rental homes, and college dorms
- Be exempt from breed, weight, or size restrictions
- Be exempt from pet fees, pet rent, or pet deposits
Besides these more practical purposes, another benefit of having an ESA letter is the knowledge that your little furry friend is serving a purpose, calming your nerves and soothing mental health conditions that otherwise may cause daily frustration.
Who Qualifies for an ESA Letter?
People who have diagnosed mental disorders and whose specific symptoms are treated by the presence of an animal may qualify for an ESA letter, as long as their LMHP professionally recommends it.
Those individuals may have one or more of the following mental health disorders (keep in mind that this list is not exhaustive):
- Depression
- Anxiety
- PTSD
- OCD
- Agoraphobia or Other Phobias
- Social anxiety
- Bipolar Disorder
- Grief
- Autism
- Alcohol Use Disorder
- Eating Disorders
An individual is qualified as determined by a licensed mental health professional who has determined that the patient’s mental health will benefit through the companionship of an emotional support animal. Some of those expected symptom alleviations may lead to:
- Less stress and lower blood pressure
- Fewer panic attacks or anxiety-related symptoms
- Increased function in regular daily tasks
- Better sleep quality
- Increased ability to spend time around other people
- Motivation and sense of purpose, as well as general well-being.
What Laws Protect a Person with an ESA?
Each business has the choice to either permit or deny animals in their place of work (such as Petsmart). While some of them are very understanding of ESA needs and are willing to work with individuals to support their mental health needs, ESAs aren’t legally guaranteed public access rights (unlike service dogs), so you may not be able to bring them with you when you go out and about or travel.
In light of that, it’s a good idea to understand how your ESA is protected by law. Understanding where your ESA letter comes in handy and how you are legally covered in some situations can be a key point in making changes to a stress-free ESA lifestyle.
The main law that protects a person with an ESA is the Fair Housing Act.
About the Fair Housing Act
Many landlords or rental companies are not fans of animals in their units, so it’s no surprise that many have made no-pet rules as a result. However, having an ESA animal is protected by the Fair Housing Act passed in 1968.
This act was passed to protect individuals or families with disabilities and allow them to live with their ESAs without having to pay hefty fees or search for new homes regularly. This act also states that landlords are required to make “reasonable” accommodations for those with disabilities.
This means that if you’re trying to live with a horse as an ESA, your landlord does not need to allow you to build a stable on their property or try to accommodate your horse inside a studio apartment.
Whatever the diagnosed conditions, ESA animals are supported in housing as the FHA recognizes their purposes and protects them by law.
About the Air Carrier Access Act (ACAA)
You may have heard about a piece of legislation called the Air Carrier Access Act. This was a law put into place to allow ESAs to be able to fly in the cabin of a plane for free without any restrictions. That law has since been updated, and now ESAs can be treated by the airline as regular pets. This means that there will be a pet fee, and the airline can tell you that your ESA needs to ride in the cargo part of the plane.
If you need emotional support during takeoff or landing, you may want to consider training and registering your ESA as a psychiatric service dog. We’ll go over what the differences between an ESA and a service dog are next. Unfortunately, service animals can only be dogs (or in some cases, miniature horses) so you will likely need to pay a fee for your emotional support cat.
How Often Do ESA Letters Need to Be Renewed?
ESA letters are typically valid for one year and so will need to be renewed on an annual basis.
What’s the Difference Between an ESA and a Service Animal?
In the world of support animals and what they offer, as well as what laws are associated with them, it’s easy to get confused between definitions such as “emotional support animal” and “service animal.”
Here are the definitions and how they differ:
What Is an Emotional Support Animal (ESA)?
An emotional support animal offers soothing benefits for psychological, mental, or emotional disorders and can be considered necessary for those suffering from legitimate and diagnosable disorders such as depression, PTSD, anxiety, and other non-physical impairments.
ESAs do not need to be trained to perform specific tasks to help with the symptoms of a diagnosed disorder; instead, their presence and companionship are considered medically helpful. An ESA can be any animal that can reasonably live with you (for instance, you can’t keep a cow in a studio apartment).
Emotional support animals are granted more housing rights than companion animals, including the right to live with you in almost any rental housing and exemption from breed, weight, or size restrictions. Additionally, you can’t be charged a pet fee, pet rent, or a pet deposit to live with an ESA. They are not granted public access rights and are meant to help you within your home.
Register your emotional support animal today!
What Is a Service Animal?
A service animal is trained to perform a specific task to mitigate the symptoms of a diagnosed disability. These tasks can include (but are not limited to):
- Retrieving medication
- Leading their handler to an exit
- “Orbiting” to give their handler personal space in a crowd
- Performing Deep Pressure Therapy
- Calling for help
- Alert to an oncoming seizure or other medical emergency
- Acting as a mobility aid
- Guiding their handler
- Grounding during panic attacks or flashbacks
- Stopping self-harming behaviors
- Detecting allergens
Service animals have all the same housing rights as an ESA. In addition to these rights, they also are granted public access rights, which means they can go with you to almost any public space (including shops, restaurants, theaters, etc.), and can also fly with you for free in an airplane cabin without being confined to a carrier. Unlike ESAs, a service animal can only be a dog or, in some cases, a miniature horse.
If you aren’t sure if an ESA or a service animal is right for you, a licensed mental health professional can help you decide; they may even suggest you have both an ESA and a service animal. You can start the process of finding out which is right for you by contacting US Service Animals.
Who Can Prescribe an Emotional Support Animal?
While you may be regularly taking medication for a mental health condition, and you may even be attending therapy or counseling on a regular basis, you probably aren’t sure if your licensed mental health practitioner is authorized to write you an ESA letter.
In most states, any licensed mental health practitioner can prescribe you an ESA. Generally, LMHPs are therapists, psychologists, psychiatrists, and psychotherapists. Look for practitioners in your area and research their credentials, including whether or not they are licensed medical health practitioners. You can also reach out to us, and we’ll connect you with a licensed mental health professional and arrange a telehealth visit to begin your ESA prescription process.
How to Get an ESA Letter While Avoiding ESA Letter Scams
Right now, there is a growing mess of online scammers and dishonest businesses attempting to pass for licensed professionals who can offer ESA letters quickly, on the cheap, or without having to consult with a therapist. Beware of these scams and follow these three principles:
Make Sure the LMHP Is Licensed
Some scam companies go to the next level and write an “ESA letter” up for you. It might look legitimate and there might be a name and signature on the document, but before you pay for this ESA letter (or anything connected to this company) make sure you actually get to speak one-on-one with the LMHP before you are prescribed the letter. If you only fill out an online form, send an email, or purchase the letter without contacting an LMHP at all, the ESA letter is very likely not legally valid, and you can be forced to have your animal removed from your home.
All of our mental health professionals are licensed in your home state and will speak with you directly; we also follow all state-specific ESA consultation laws. We want to make sure that you do not have any problems so we take the legitimacy of our operation extremely seriously.
Check if They’re Accredited With the Better Business Bureau
Since so many scammers are out there, the Better Business Bureau (BBB) was created to identify the legit companies among the frauds. One of the best ways to check if you’re reading a scam or not is by popping the name of the company into the Better Business Bureau website and seeing what it has to say.
Review These Tips to Avoid ESA Scams
To keep yourself safe, use websites that are legitimate, like US Service Animals. Some signs that a site may not be legitimate include:
- Claiming an ESA can fly with you for free, which is no longer legally guaranteed
- Saying that your ESA legally must be registered (all you legally need is your prescription letter)
- Approving you for an ESA letter without having you first speak one-on-one with a LMPH (emailing with them or filling out a form for them to review does not count; you must have an in-person or telehealth visit or a phone call)
- Claiming your ESA needs identifying accessories, like vests, collars or ID cards (these can be helpful but are not legally required)
- Charging either very low or very high fees for an ESA letter
If you keep these tips in mind, it’ll make avoiding ESA letter scams far easier.
Get an ESA Letter from the Best ESA Letter Website
If you’re living with a mental or emotional disorder, and an ESA would help you cope with your symptoms, then you deserve a legitimate, valid ESA letter. Avoid scam sites, and only work with organizations that will provide you with a letter from a LMHP in your state, and who will only offer an ESA letter to those with a relevant diagnosis.
If you think you may qualify for an ESA, you can start your ESA consultation process with us today – and you can feel confident that every step of this process is legally valid, legitimate, and safe.