In May we celebrate mental health awareness week and this year’s theme is ‘move’. What better way to move than with your dog! We celebrated the health benefits of companion animals on our mental health and had a wonderful day at Peterborough Cathedral last Friday. We explored the benefits of moving around the grounds with our canine companions and sharing the St Bernard pat dog love with the people of Peterborough inside the Cathedral. The Cathedral is a dog friendly venue and visitors can bring their own well behaved dog inside. https://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/news/people/peterborough-cathedral-hosts-canine-companion-event-in-aid-of-mental-health-awareness-week-4626839
In addition to being a trauma psychotherapist, I love spending time with my own St Bernards and being Chair/Trustee of Saving Saints Rescue UK. Saving Saints has been offering pat dog therapy for the last 7 years around the UK – visiting care homes, prisons, schools, colleges to spread the St Bernard love, educate and encourage safe dog interaction. Lots of scientific research has shown how helpful animal therapy is to humans – reducing our levels of stress hormones (cortisol), reducing our heart rate and blood pressure, decreasing feelings of loneliness and isolation, improving our overall mood. Lincoln University did research into the positive impact of dogs in schools of pupils of special needs. This research also led to some important work on how to reduce the number of children bitten by dogs in the UK (The Blue Dog Project 2010, Lincoln University).
Many studies show that being physically active is not only good for our body but also our mental health. Sadly people with mental illness will die on average 20 years earlier than the general population. This isn’t just about suicidal deaths due to depression but also people with mental illness are more likely to develop conditions like bowel and breast cancer, diabetes, heart disease linked to obesity and lack of exercise. Due to depression and anxiety they often struggle to maintain healthy lifestyle changes and access regular medical monitoring. Research shows that 56% of people found that exercising regularly helped reduce stress. A 2019 study by Professor Carrie Westgarth of University of Liverpool revealed that 64% of dog owners in the UK reported that they walk with their dogs for at least 150 minutes per week. Dr Westgarth said “Our findings provide support for the role of pet dogs in promoting and maintaining positive health behaviours such as walking. Without dogs, it is likely that population physical activity levels would be much lower”.
I combine psychotherapy models such as EMDR and CBT with walk and talk therapy and many clients find this is less intensive than a traditional healthcare setting, sitting opposite someone. Many younger clients have commented that being outside helps them feel less anxious. The movement of the body when walking can also reduce the intensity of distress a client may feel due to movement having a positive impact on the central nervous system. The type of movement we generate in walking has been proven to stimulate the connection between the right and left hemispheres of the brain. This supports emotional processing and is similar to the left-right eye movements we offer in traditional EMDR therapy. We also offer the option of clients bringing their own dog into therapy or sharing the session with one of Rachel’s pat dogs, Dotty or Willow.
If you would like to talk about the benefits of having a canine companion in your workplace, care setting or at an event please contact Rachel via savingsaintsrescueuk@outlook.com. If you are interested in walk and talk or dog pat therapy, contact Rachel on tel: 07759 516241 or email: wellness-consultancy@outlook.com.
Further information:
Research – Lincoln Education Assistance with Dogs
https://ref2014impact.azurewebsites.net/casestudies2/refservice.svc/GetCaseStudyPDF/31951
https://mentalhealth-uk.org/mental-health-awareness-week/
My personal experiences of Walking EMDR Therapy – EMDR Therapy Quarterly (emdrassociation.org.uk)
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31000795/
Peterborough Cathedral (peterborough-cathedral.org.uk)