DOGS for Health, a local charity that offers a variety of services aimed to reduce stress, anxiety, and isolation through contact with some furry friends, is encouraging more people to get in touch if they’ve had a ruff day.
The charity, which covers Frome, Westbury, Warminster, and Shepton Mallet, offers animal assisted therapy designed to provide a sense of calm and safety for those going through stressful situations or those that may be suffering from social isolation.
Volunteers and their dogs visit people in their own homes, hospitals, and care homes to support people through activities and professional therapy with the help of dogs. The charity also offers animal-assisted education through school visits whereby therapy dogs are used to help discuss emotional wellness. They also say they can give students access to a therapy dog to encourage reluctant school goers into the classroom to engage with lessons and their peers.
Charity founder Amy Wood has a background in social prescribing and she says she saw an opportunity to set up the charity when a patient of hers, whose circumstances did not allow for a pet, said they missed the companionship a four-legged friend can provide.
“I looked everywhere and couldn’t see anywhere locally that offered home visits with therapy dogs, so with the help of a few others we set up Dogs for Health as an independent charity in 2020,” she said.
“It’s all grown so quickly now as we’ve became so popular. We mostly do home visits and care home visits to help those with social isolation, but we also visit schools to help educate the children, and we have a corporate side. We now have 27 volunteers which accounts for 33 dogs in total and this helps us to provide support for more and more people as we grow.”
The charity works with GP practices and local councils to identify people who may be feeling isolated or those that could benefit with some dog therapy, but you can also make a self-referral on their website.
According to Dogs for Health, animal assisted therapy has been found to have positive outcomes and improved emotional well-being in those with autism, medical conditions, behavioural issues, as well as those battling depression, schizophrenia, or addiction.
Amy added, “I think the reason our service works so well is because dogs don’t judge, they just want to be happy and share that happiness with someone else. Ours is often the only service that people really engage with as it helps reduce social isolation and anxiety but on an individual’s own terms.”
All the volunteers and their dogs at the charity have completed a high standard of training and assessment. If you would like to volunteer and you have a dog that you think could help others, get in contact with the charity to discuss volunteering.
Pawamedics
The charity has also taken dogs to high-stress environments such as A&E, hospitals and to visit the police, to help staff who may be having a hard day.
Amy says, “Our ‘pawamedics’ go and support staff who perhaps have been having a bad day in some of the toughest jobs. We’ve had NHS workers crying into the dog’s fur before but the dog is just happy to be there in support, as are we. The staff always seem happier afterwards!”
Donations needed
Amy says, “The home visits are free and we want to keep it that way, but any kind of donation will help this and it goes directly into supporting the volunteer training.”
If you would like to donate to Dogs for Health you can text ‘Molly’ followed by a space and the number representing the amount you wish to donate to 70470. Example ‘Molly 2’ will donate £2 and ‘Molly 15’ will donate £15.
To gain access to a home visit, you can fill out a referral form on the Dogs for Health website, or alternatively you can be referred to the scheme by a doctor or town/county councils.
The website can be found at: www.dogsforhealth.org.uk/
