Joan Esnayra, Ph.D. is President and founder of the Psychiatric Service Dog Society. A recipient of the 2006 Eli Lilly 'Welcome Back Award' in Primary Care, Dr. Esnayra has spent the past ten years pioneering the 'Psychiatric Service Dog' therapeutic model. Building upon her analytical training as a scientist, and her insights as a mental health consumer, Dr. Esnayra and members of her online community identified over 30 tasks or functions that Psychiatric Service Dogs may be trained to provide to their owners who are disabled by refractory symptoms of severe mental illness.