Recently, we have been awarded a generous grant of £145,480 by the Pets at Home Foundation for our Animal Assisted Interventions (AAI) programme, TheraPaws. This will enable us to develop and expand our work in this area and make a positive impact on more people who would benefit from the service.

Thanks to the grant, a new full time Coordinator will be recruited to help develop, deliver and manage the TheraPaws programme. They will work to build more community partnerships, and co-ordinate sessions. They will also recruit, train and support volunteers to deliver the programme, all with the resulting impact of reaching more people and improving their physical and mental wellbeing.

Since 2012, TheraPaws has provided support for the elderly, young people with mental health issues, and patients in hospitals and clinics. The programme is delivered by trained volunteers and their behaviourally assessed dogs to deliver AAI to promote physical, mental and emotional wellbeing.

Over the last decade, Therapaws has helped thousands of people, and despite the service being temporarily put on hold during the pandemic, the project still delivered notable outcomes. These included 40 visits and 553 individual therapy engagements to people in locations ranging from hospital wards, care homes, and eating disorder clinics to schools and mental health clinics.

Now, thanks to the grant, Mayhew hopes to increase the number of visits in 2023.

Sherine Wheeler, our CEO, explains, “This important grant can make a difference to people of all ages in our community. It means we can expand the programme with new partnerships, recruit more volunteers, partner with more venues and improve the health and wellbeing of many more people through our hugely impactful therapeutic pet visits. It is a fantastic start to 2023 and we look forward to seeing TheraPaws go from strength to strength in the future.”