Why the best therapist can be a donkey! Interaction with animals can help to ease stress and calm mood

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Charlie has met Mary before — the wall of her room is peppered with pictures of previous visits.

‘He’s back,’ she croaks, and it’s as if a switch has been thrown. Mary becomes more animated than the staff have seen her in a long time as she happily interacts with the donkey and his handler, Kelly Baker.

Downstairs in the communal lounge Dermott, a rescue donkey from Ireland, has his head tucked into the arm of another delighted resident.

As she strokes him he snuggles into her, and the resident’s face lights up — this is the first ‘visitor’ she has had in a while.

And where there was virtual silence moments before, since the donkeys’ arrival everyone has been chatting and smiling.

‘When the donkeys come in there is a transformation — residents, staff, everyone talks about it for days afterwards,’ says Michelle Goreham, home admissions advisor at the Gracewell nursing and dementia care home, where the donkeys are visiting.

There are clear therapeutic benefits to animal visits, explains Dr James Brennan, a psychologist who worked with cancer patients for 22 years at the leading Bristol Oncology Centre.

He points to a wealth of research that supports the idea that interaction with nature of any kind — be it with animals or the countryside — is very restorative, helping to ease stress and calm mood.

a19ecd8f39cfb37a33b566b17287ccc5 Why the best therapist can be a donkey! Interaction with animals can help to ease stress and calm mood

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