Paws For Therapy is an Isle of Man-based registered charity which was formed in 2007. It arranges for registered and assessed animals to carry out therapeutic visits to hospices, nursing, residential and care homes, day care centres, special needs units and schools, and mainstream schools, establishments working with children and many other similar such places. Both the young and old benefit from this invaluable work, which is undertaken by volunteers with their own friendly, temperament tested and vaccinated dogs and cats in their local community. As there are some inevitable retirements of volunteer visiting teams each year, new recruits are continually needed for this charitable work. Ill patients often feel isolated but even the most withdrawn seem to open up and let the barriers down when their regular therapy animal arrives. These visiting teams bring everyday life close and with it all the happy associations of home and an undemanding animal, who gives unconditional love, which is often one of the most missed aspects of their lives. Paws For Therapy was formed to make this loss more bearable and speed recovery. Paws For Therapy animals also assist in the psychological enhancement and improvement of people who have experienced some sort of trauma or who are suffering from anxiety and worry, and help to distract troubled thoughts to more positive and pleasurable feelings. Working with physical problems from debilitating illnesses such as strokes, etc or injury, as well as psychological problems, Paws For Therapy animals, in addition to providing psychological benefits, also provide a physical incentive and motivation to encourage movement just that little bit further to aid rehabilitation. Sometimes it is speech that may have been affected and this has also been proven to be helped by Paws For Therapy animals, sometimes with the first word uttered with sense being their therapy animal’s name. For anyone living in long-term residential care who may have owned animals all of their lives, to have to give up animals altogether is beyond comprehension. Visiting animals are matched to a regular visiting place where the animal is therefore seen on a regular basis and is encouraged to be looked upon as the next best thing to ‘their’ pet, thus being able to build some sort of relationship and bond with the animal. It is a well-known and clinically proven fact that an animal to cuddle and talk to reduces blood pressure and enhances the frame of mind, which gives a little extra boost in addition to medical skills and nursing care.
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