How to Ask Your Doctor for an ESA Letter (Step-by-Step Guide)

• Legally reviewed by: Kristina Bergsten, Esquire
• Medically reviewed by: Geralyn Dexter, PhD, LMHC

If you’re not sure how to ask your doctor for an ESA letter, you’re not alone. The conversation is hard because talking about your mental health is vulnerable, and many doctors genuinely want to help but don’t know how. This step-by-step guide, written and vetted by ESA legal experts and healthcare experts, covers what to say and how to handle the questions your doctor is likely to ask along the way.

Step 1: Explain to Your Doctor What an ESA Is

Despite the popularity of emotional support animals, many doctors are still not aware of what they are and how they can help. If this is your doctor, it’s best to start the conversation by giving them some background on what exactly an ESA is. 

In a nutshell, an emotional support animal is a pet, usually a dog or cat, that improves your mental health. They can be any size and breed, and don’t need any special training or certifications. Unlike service dogs, which undergo specialized training, emotional support animals do their jobs just by being present in your life and responding to a symptom of your disability. They’re essential companions in the lives of people who have conditions like depression, anxiety, PTSD, or autism. 

To prove you have an emotional support animal, you need a letter from a licensed healthcare professional. This is where your doctor comes in. Once you have an ESA letter, you have legal protections, like the ability to live in “no-pets” housing. 

Step 2: Explain How Your Pet Helps You

To qualify for an Emotional Support Animal under Federal and state guidelines, your doctor or therapist has to determine two things. First, they’ll need to know whether you have a mental health condition that substantially limits major life activities. In simple terms, that means your depression, anxiety, or PTSD, for example, is so severe that it affects your ability to do essential things like work, study, or sleep. 

Next, your doctor will need to confirm that an ESA helps your condition. This is where you’ll explain to your doctor, or therapist, how your ESA makes you feel better. For example, your dog might ease your depression by helping you get up in the morning and keeping you on a routine. Or having your cats around could make you feel more at ease when a panic attack is creeping up.

Step 3: Explain Why You Need an ESA Letter From Them

The reason you need to talk to a licensed health professional about your need for an ESA is because they’re the only ones who can write an ESA letter. An ESA letter is the only way to prove under Federal and state laws that your dog or cat is not just a regular pet, but an assistance animal that is necessary for your mental health.

This is essential if you want your pet to be protected under housing rights, and is extra important if you rent your home or live in a co-op or HOA where your landlord can ban pets or require approval. The professional we work with understands the value ESAs bring to their owners. They will work with you through online evaluations.

Step 4: Explain the Benefits of Having an ESA Letter

At this point, your doctor might understand why you’ve asked them for an ESA letter, but not how the letter will benefit you. You can explain to your doctor that having an ESA letter ensures that your support animal will always be able to live with you, something that is not guaranteed without a letter. That’s because under Federal and state guidelines, landlords are required to accommodate ESAs even if they have a no-pets policy. ESA owners are also exempt from:

• breed restrictions
• weight and size limits
• pet fees and pet deposits

An ESA letter exempts tenants from most pet rules. That includes breed and weight restrictions, as well as the obligation to pay pet fees or pet deposits. An ESA letter serves as a shield, protecting you and your support animal from eviction and burdensome financial costs. Having an ESA letter relieves a lot of anxiety for ESA owners who are fearful they could lose their ESA due to changes in housing circumstances one day, and that’s exactly what ESA laws were designed to protect against.

Step 5: Explain What You Need in the ESA Letter

If your doctor is now fully on board with giving you an ESA letter, great! But you might run into one caveat: they might not know how to write one. If that’s the case, you can share the template below with them:

ESA letters generally require the following things: 1. The doctor or therapist’s license number and contact information, 2. Their signature, 3. A statement that your emotional support animal is necessary for your mental health condition. 

Keep in mind that you have a right to privacy with ESA letters. The doctor does not have to put in specific details about your diagnoses or medical history. Landlords are also not allowed to ask for this information directly.

What To Do if Your Doctor Can’t Help

If in the end, your doctor isn’t able to write an ESA letter for you, don’t be discouraged. There are many reasons doctors and therapists can’t write ESA letters that are completely unrelated to your need for one. Many don’t feel comfortable writing an ESA letter; some are prohibited from doing so because of their clinic’s policies, and some don’t have the administrative structure needed to respond to landlord verification requests.

If that’s the case, you can look for an online mental health professional who specializes in ESA letters. Many doctors and therapists will refer their patients out to these providers. And yes, under Federal and state rules, ESA letters from online providers are just as good as ones from your physician’s office.

Frequently Asked Questions