Our young people at Ivetsey Bank Hospital, our child and adolescent mental health service in Staffordshire, recently spent the day with lots of animals from Animals Interactive.
Animals Interactive have trained practitioners in animal intervention therapies, and they brought in some furry and scaly friends to the service including rabbits, guinea pigs, a Burmese python, a meerkat, a skunk, a bearded dragon, a tortoise, and owls.
All of the animals are remarkably well-trained and are perfectly compatible with a wide range of people and children with differing abilities.
Jordan Pargeter, Lead Occupational Therapist at Ivetsey Bank Hospital, said: “All the young people were really confident with the animals, and they did an amazing job.”
Animal therapy can help individuals with autism, ADHD, and other additional learning needs. Animals are calming to people and bring them joy.
Some benefits to animal therapy include:
- providing a focus for social communication
- helping to build important skills, such as paying attention, and emotional reciprocity
- promoting self-esteem, whilst relieving feelings associated with depression and anxiety
- providing the motivation to learn a range of behavioural and practical skills
- providing physical outlets to calm sensory cravings and emotional anxiety
- breaking down emotional barriers that otherwise prevent a person from expressing themselves positively
