How Long Does It Take to Get an ESA Certified?

Do you have an emotional support animal? If you do, you may be wondering, "" Once you receive an ESA letter, your pet is certified, making it easier to take your pet to many public places and on certain airlines.

DoNotPay can help you to receive an ESA letter, so you can prove that your emotional support animal is necessary for your mental health.

What Does It Mean to Have an Emotional Support Animal?

An emotional support animal (ESA) is a pet that provides comfort and companionship to a person with a mental health condition. Some mental health conditions that benefit from having an ESA include:

Depression	Emotional support animals can help with depression by offering reassurance and companionship to people experiencing low mood or clinical depression
Anxiety	Emotional support animals can provide comfort, offering affection through cuddles and give a calming and soothing presence. An ESA can also encourage healthy activities and exercise, distracting one from anxious thoughts
ADHD	People with ADHD find life easier to live when following a schedule. An ESA is perfect for this situation as the animal must be fed, walked, and played with. An ESA can be a part of this routine, distracting those diagnosed with ADHD from stress and triggers.
PTSD	People who suffer from post-traumatic stress are constantly afraid of being judged or criticized, emotional support animals make good companions that will do neither. ESAs can help them have more fun, worry less, relieve stress, and give them that dopamine rush. People diagnosed with PTSD can also feel detached from most of the world, but ESAs have the ability to engage the emotion of love and give them a sense of purpose. Being that an ESA is an animal it will need to be taken outside to walk or play which will also give the owner a chance to spend time in the sun and meet new people.
Some fears and phobias	Social phobias can be crippling to those who suffer from them, but having an emotional support animal can be all they need. ESAs need to be taken out for walks and playtime which can motivate people to go outside and socialize, maybe even making it into a positive experience. Cause and effect.

If you suffer from a mental health condition, and you've got an emotional support animal, many public spaces recognize your condition and make accommodations for your pet.

What Does It Mean to Have an Animal ESA Certified?

If you want to take your emotional support animal to public places like the grocery or on a public bus, you'll need to provide proof that your pet is, in fact, an ESA. Additionally, many landlords don't allow pets in their rental properties. By law, landlords are required to allow ESAs, if the owner is able to provide proof that their pet is an ESA.

You can do these things by obtaining an ESA letter.

What Is an ESA Letter?

An ESA letter is the only way you can prove that your pet is an emotional support animal. You'll need to ask your doctor or another licensed medical professional to write an ESA letter for you.

Who Can Write an ESA Letter?

Only licensed medical professionals can write an ESA letter. This includes your:

Primary Care Physician
Psychiatrist
Psychologist
Physician's Assistant
Registered Nurse
Licensed Mental Health Counselor (LMHC)
Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC)
Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT)
Licensed Social Worker (LCSW)

What's Included in an ESA Letter?

When you receive an ESA letter, your medical provider will include the following information:

Their license number
The date the license was issued
The date the license expires
Their contact information

Once you've got an ESA letter, you can present it as needed when entering certain public places with your emotional support animal.

How Long Does It Take to Get an Animal ESA Certified?

So, to receive your ESA letter? Your doctor should only take a few days to create and send your ESA letter. The letter itself does not take very long to write, and oftentimes, your medical care provider will email the letter to you so you can print it at home.

You will need to take into consideration the amount of time it takes to schedule an appointment and get in to be seen by your doctor or mental healthcare provider. This will determine how long it will take to receive your ESA letter.

How to Obtain an ESA Letter on Your Own

If you want to get an ESA letter on your own, you will need to:

Call your primary care doctor or mental health provider and schedule an appointment.
Make a list of all of your symptoms.
Bring your list to your appointment and discuss them with your provider.
Ask about emotional support animals and whether your provider would recommend one for your condition.
Ask your doctor to write you an ESA letter.
Wait for your letter to arrive.

Although the process may seem simple, it can be very overwhelming. Often, people suffering from mental health conditions have a hard time asking for help, and it can be difficult to list all of the reasons that you think you need an ESA.

If you're worried about advocating for yourself, let DoNotPay do it for you.

DoNotPay Can Request an ESA Letter for You

DoNotPay offers a Service and Emotional Support Animals product that can ask your doctor to write an ESA letter on your behalf. Additionally, this product can contact your landlord or airlines, and we'll let you know when they respond.

Here's what you need to do:

Search "service animal" on DoNotPay.
Select the type of issue you need help with, including contacting your landlord about your ESA/service animal, asking your airline about ESA options, or requesting ESA/service accommodations at other venues.
Answer a series of questions about your current situation and the details of your ESA/service animal, so we can generate the best results for you.

That's all you have to do. Once the letter has been generated, we'll send it to your landlord or airlines for you. And if you need a letter to give to your doctor, we can send it on your behalf. Once we receive a response, we'll let you know.

Trust DoNotPay to Help Advocate for Your Emotional Service Animal

DoNotPay will collect your information to generate a letter on your behalf about your ESA. You can rest assured that the process will be:

Fast: DoNotPay works quickly to generate a letter and send it out to your landlord, airline, or doctor.
Simple: All you need to do is fill out some basic information. We'll take care of the rest.
Successful: DoNotPay will write a letter and will send it to advocate for your ESA.

DoNotPay Can Help With Your ESA Across a Variety of Companies

DoNotPay works across all businesses, groups, airlines, and more. For example, we'll help you write a letter to Southwest Airlines the same way we'd write one for American Airlines and United Airlines.

That way, you can trust our product to work, no matter which company you need to communicate with.

DoNotPay Products for Your Pets

Additionally, DoNotPay can help with a variety of pet concerns.

We can:

Write a Pet Custody Agreement
Find Lost Pets
Report Animal Abuse
Pet Licenses

What Else Can DoNotPay Do?

DoNotPay can help with all kinds of problems. Here are a few of the ways we can serve you:

Trust DoNotPay to help you with your ESA animal. And if your landlord doesn't recognize your ESA rights, use our Complaint Letters product to successfully send demand letters to your landlord in small claims court.