This month at Elysian Academy, we have been considering the potential benefits to developing emotional and social skills that people can take from well-planned sessions alongside animals.
Most of us have experienced times in our lives where we have felt anxious or felt like there were too many obstacles to us feeling comfortable just being ourselves. For some people, these feelings can be overwhelming and get in the way of connecting, building friendships, and even experiencing positive and healthy emotions.
At Elysian, we know that many of the young people we support can end up lacking self-worth and feeling incredibly isolated. Our teams recognise the challenges that this can bring, and by working with some of our wonderful animals, we support our learners to start to repair and rebuild their own sense of ‘mattering’ and to recognise their many strengths – often skills and abilities that they forget the value of.
Animals: From the small and furry guinea-pigs up to the beautiful and powerful python, Cupcake, each animal offers ways to help people better recognise and speak about their own thoughts, feelings and actions. A well-designed AAI session can make a massive difference to someone feeling a little lost.
You may have experienced this yourself – a beloved family pet that understands when you are feeling low or agitated. The warmth and connection that can come from a cat sitting on your lap, purring, or a dog just quietly settling by your feet. Our horse-loving friends describe how their connection with their horse can be emotionally refreshing – they feel safe and cared for by their animal.
Let us know how animals help you with those difficult days or moments. How do you feel when an animal accepts your company and lets you groom or feed them? What do they ‘give’ you without judgment and with unconditional positive regard?
May Webinar
Our webinar this month was designed to reinforce the core idea that there is so much that can come from a safe and ethical AAI session to support people who may benefit from a better grip on emotional regulation or with trust and communication challenges.
Importantly, the webinar emphasises that high-quality, welfare-aware AAI is not a one-size-fits-all approach and that the role of the AAI practitioner needs to be a reflective and adaptable one in order to bring the best possible outcomes to service users and to maintain the safeguarding and welfare priorities of the work that they are doing.
Probably the core message underpinning the webinar is that the animal is just being itself! The animal is not causing emotional or social development – rather the animal may be contributing to conditions where this development becomes more possible – by reducing the sense of threat or offering practical ways for the person to connect – to practice and to reflect on how they could use these ideas with their peers or other people they might meet.
Above all, the skill of the practitioner is the driving factor for this. When the professional recognises the wonderful opportunities of AAI as well as the limits and the realistic expectations for working with clients, these sessions become genuinely effective and transformative.
It was a powerful topic of conversation this month and touched on aspects of our professional work supporting others. Join our Exclusive Community to catch up on previous webinars.
Next month, we will be considering how AAI can be successfully brought into a range of settings – in education, health and care environments. You can be part of the webinar by booking a place here or you can join our exclusive community Barn+ members and access this webinar and all of the other recordings for the low price of £4.95 per month
Practitioner Reflection of the Month
The best laid plans... I was building up a positive and genuinely fun routine with a neurodiverse young person that I was supporting. After several sessions and repeated encounters with our goats, I wanted to see how the individual would feel meeting our Alpaca herd. I was certain that there would be a degree of interest and enthusiasm but I was concerned that the size of the animals as well as the potential spitting could be a barrier to my students’ engagement. I planned a sequence of sessions with the first couple built around observing and perhaps offering some food treats from outside the enclosure.
I worried about the session and had lots of alternative strategies ready – a return to the popular goats if (and when) it all went horribly wrong!
My student LOVED the alpacas. They found the faces and the body language of these highly sensitive creatures to be so appealing. My student was drawn to the alpacas in a way that I had not imagined. In our first session, we went in with the animals, hand fed the bravest and when there was a bit of ‘friendly’ spitting between members of the herd, my student was fascinated – not disgusted! We spent the walk back to the hand-washing station thinking about why the spitting had happened, and there was so much going on for my student. They asked if we could revisit the alpacas in the next session.
I had made too many assumptions – for good reasons, but by trusting my student and building the session around them – my key outcomes remained the same – they enjoyed meeting and interacting with the alpacas, but so much more came from the experience, and it was one of the most moving AAI sessions I had delivered.
The following session, I brought a member of the Elysian team who is confident with alpacas to work with the young person. They did some health checks and even managed to headcollar and walk two of the herd. It was a magical moment.
Question of the month: Can animal-assisted interventions work in schools?
Absolutely, yes. Animal-assisted interventions can work in schools to benefit pupils when combined with the right planning and know-how. At Elysian Academy, we can help educators, pastoral leads, SEND specialists and school leaders to make this a reality. We focus on helping you to improve emotional regulation, learning and engagement, all the while maintaining your professional integrity, respect for learning and safeguarding standards. These CPD accredited courses in AAI will help you to maintain clear boundaries, integrate animals safely, navigate issues in your school or learning facility and ensure that animal welfare is always maintained.
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