We are very lucky at Inclusion Hampshire to have our very own team of therapy dogs, Casper, Matilda and Fern. Casper and Fern split their time between Inclusion School and Inclusion College, whilst Matilda is primarily at the School with her owner and trainer Kerry. They are a real source of joy for us at Inclusion and are a a wonderful support for learners and staff alike.
Here at Inclusion we are always looking to develop our service and one area we know would bring added benefit to our young people is through Animal Assisted
Interventions (AAI) – that’ s where Casper, Matilda and Fern, our Therapy dogs come in.
Whilst Casper is our fully trained Therapy dog, Matilda and Fern are currently undergoing training as part of the PAWS pals programme.
Owned by our CEO, Casper and Fern will work across both our sites to provide support to learners, whilst Matilda will be based at the School.
AAI is a term used to describe an intervention, where an animal and a specialist facilitator work together to promote improvements in the service users physical, emotional and cognitive needs.
Although this can be focussed in a variety of areas, it can include a number of areas are learners find challenging
such as:
These benefits are closely aligned to the work we do at Inclusion and we would love to have the opportunity to be able to bring this new skill to our toolkit.
The dogs are already making a huge difference, working with learners.
Look out for some photos, news and updates on them – as well as some amazing learner work inspired by our good dogs!
If you would like to contact us with any further queries then please complete the form with your details and message and one of our team will be in touch.
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