As part of national Walk Your Dog Month, our animal-loving staff at Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust (EPUT) discuss how pet therapy sessions have benefited our patients.
Throughout last year, the Essex Therapy Dogs team spent many hours engaging with patients at acute inpatient wards at the Trust’s Linden Centre and Crystal Centre, both in Chelmsford.
Pet therapy has been proven to have many benefits for mental health. It helps people to feel calm, provides comfort, and helps soothe their emotions, reduce boredom, lower anxiety levels and bridge communication gaps.
Our Patient Experience team has worked with Essex Therapy Dogs to plan visits to more wards this year for more patients to experience the joy the dogs bring.
Hayleigh Gough, People Participation Lead for our Patient Experience Team, said: “I want to give a huge thank you to Essex Therapy Dogs and their hard working volunteers, who generously give up their spare time to visit our wards last year.
“We know the visits were an extremely positive experience for everyone and it was so lovely to see how happy the dogs made our patients.
“The dogs really brightened everyone’s day, especially for those patients who had previously felt unable to talk with staff.
“We are looking forward to working with Essex Therapy Dogs more regularly this year to organise more visits across our inpatient services.”
Essex Therapy Dogs is a local group who offer visits to people in various organisations across Essex to provide comfort, help and support to people who need it.