Animal Assisted Interventions and a brief history of the animal and human bond

Spending time with animals, either on care farms or as part of animal assisted interventions, can be is a very rewarding experience for the individuals and groups involved. Research by Churchill Fellow Ione Maria Rojas, and published in her 2015 report, found that working with, or even just spending time, with animals has physical, emotional, cognitive and social benefits for people of all ages. 

The story of the animal and human bond is woven into our history, culture and folklore and goes back to the time humans first domesticated animals. Early men and women called upon animals as guardian spirits and in some cultures, such as the Ancient Egyptians, there are depictions of part human and part animal Gods and Goddesses. Closer to home, country folklorists often spoke of animals as being 'helpers' or the 'mascots of the Saints'.

Perhaps one of the earliest examples of what we would now call 'animal assisted interventions' can be found in the Elizabethan age when 'gentle' or 'comforter' dogs offered succour to ladies who suffered with ills.

Our relationship with animals has not always been seen as beneficial and benign, such as for instance during the English Witch Trials. European culture at the time was suspicious of animals due to the belief that they assisted witches and 'cunning folk' in their practice of magic. Tragedies or unusual events were viewed through the lens of witchcraft with animals becoming an easy scapegoat for the blame. Many people of the time felt that keeping away from animals would protect them from harm during uncertain times.

Fortunately, the Seventeenth Century and the Age of Enlightenment ushered in a more sympathetic and compassionate view of animals. So much so that kindness to animals became a theme of children's literature in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries. Parents hoped this would encourage their children to display the highly desirable values of kindness and gentility.

In the late Eighteenth Century animal companionship as a method to treat patients with physical and mental health conditions became increasingly popular. Florence Nightingale wrote of the benefits in her book 'Notes on Nursing' in 1859 describing animals as 'an excellent companion for the sick' and 'for long chronic cases especially'.

In the 1900's using animals in patients treatment plans fell out of favour. However, over the last 20 years in particular, green care approaches with animals and humans has enjoyed a resurgence.  Animals are being seen, once again, as soothing companions for those suffering with anxiety, physical or mental illness or disabilities, an obvious example being the rise in popularity of emotional support animals.

Open Wings, Family Growing Spaces and World Food Day

September brought welcome news from the Open Wing Trust. I had been selected to receive funding to enable me to carry out a six week Rapid Review project. The research was to focus on the benefits of family growing spaces and how this could be used to support vulnerable families and those families who are perhaps not traditionally classed as vulnerable, but who may nevertheless be struggling through the pandemic.

The concept of using landscapes and gardens to support vulnerable children is not a new one. Lady Allen of Hurtwood established a number of adventure playgrounds across London after the Second World War. These playgrounds were located in areas of the City that had suffered the most intensive bombing and where children had experienced significant trauma as a result.

Today, social and therapeutic horticulture continues to support physical and mental health through the provision of opportunities to work in gardens. I believe that offering families a safe space within a 'growing' environment may well deliver tangible benefits by improving wellbeing through the teaching of gardening and horticulture skills. Learning about growing food also helps children to understand where their food comes from and how it contributes to a healthy diet. 

I'll update on my research progress in a few weeks time. Finally, this week sees World Food Day 2020 on 16th October. Launched in 1945 by the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation, this annual event has a different food-related focus each year.  For 2020, the theme is 'Grow, Nourish, Sustain, Together' and encourages us to 'build back better' after Covid. So this week, in addition to my Open Wings research, I'll also be promoting our food cooperative consultation. 

What will you do for World Food Day this week? 

Care Farming in Tasmania

In August I had the pleasure of meeting (virtually) Liz Everard. Liz, an experienced mental health nurse, is one of the 2019 Hocking Fellows researching therapeutic care farming and previously, she worked on a residential therapeutic care farm in the Netherlands for four years. 

During that time she learnt first hand about the different approaches, therapies and practices that benefited the residents, supported them, and promoted their return to health. She decided to return to Tasmania with the vision of setting up her own therapeutic care farm.

I feel that this approach to care farming is quite different to anything I have seen thus far in the UK.  It supports individuals with complex mental health needs by offering them a home on the farm, usually for six months to two years, during which time they learn new skills through farming whilst receiving specialist mental health care from highly qualified staff. 

The families of those entering the programme are encouraged to support their loved ones as they move through the process and robust transition support is put in place to help the residents as they prepare to return to their own communities.

Liz has also set up the organisation Care Farming Australia and I hope we will be able to collaborate on future projects as we both move through our Fellowships.

I wish Liz every success with her research and the farm project and look forward to visiting in the future should the opportunity become available.

The Dog Days of Summer and the Online Food Summit

July brought good weather and the news that we had finally secured land for the Community Orchard, or so we thought! 

The benefits of growing fruit and vegetables go back a long way, for example, during the Middle Ages monasteries in Western Europe set up cloistered gardens to grow fruit and vegetables. The food from these gardens fed the monks and those they cared for as well as offering patients meaningful work, an opportunity to encourage physical movement and social interaction. The beginnings of what we might consider today to be social farming and gardening can be seen in these historic monastic communities. Today, we still consider purposeful work in nature with social support to be the three critical elements of green care. 

Unfortunately July also brought bad news because no sooner had we arranged to take over the land for the orchard than the offer was withdrawn due to some complaints from local allotment holders. So back to the drawing board on the land search!

July also saw the two day online Food Summit arranged by Hannah Fenton and Sustain. We welcomed local farmers, food producers, charities, interested individuals and representatives from the local Councils to debate the future of food provision in the county.

We listened to the views of micro producers as well as those farming hundreds of acres of land, those with established products, and those in need of a shared commercial kitchen space to progress to the next stage. The final report looking at a county food partnership is due in October and I look forward to reading that.

We also set up a number of working groups to take forward specific projects. I will be leading the Food Cooperative Investigative Group and asking the question - Do we need a food cooperative in Buckinghamshire?