Santana (white cat on the left) and Sabrina (black cat on the right). Photo by J.M. Cools

Why Getting Emotional Support Animals Was The Best Decision

*Trigger warning: Discussion of suicide*

For quite some time, I didn’t understand the benefit of an emotional support animal (ESA). The Animal Legal & Historical Center defines an ESA as “a companion animal that provides therapeutic benefit to an individual with a mental or psychiatric disability.” When I had initially heard of them I was in college, and all I…