More people now benefiting from dog therapy
Demand for our dog therapy service has gone through the ‘woof’, prompting us to expand our canine team to 16. The CareBark service was only launched in 2023 and, three years later, it has grown beyond all expectations. As a result, more people than ever before are now benefiting from dog therapy.
To keep up with demand, we recently had our latest dogs signed off to provide pet therapy. The team now consists of Labradors Red, Wren, Chance, Kyro, Emmie, Axel, Shadow, Star, Mabel and Billy. Additionally, we have Labradoodle Marley; Cockapoos Wilma and Blue; and Cavapoos Sunny and Reggie.
The 16th to be signed off was Labrador JJ, who suffers with anxiety. However, through careful training JJ is now able to spend time with select customers as well as acting as the office therapy dog.
One of the dogs, Billy, was even gifted free of charge to Caremark by local breeder Julia Bowes. Julia has bred several of the other Labradors that are now on the therapy team.
People value the comfort, confidence and companionship
The dogs, along with their human handlers who are also trained Home Care Assistants, go into the homes of customers across the Redcar and Cleveland area. They are integrated into their assessed need care packages. The dogs support customers with mental health and wellbeing, prevent loneliness, and provide motivation to get people moving. This helps customers get out into the community for some much-needed fresh air.
The service also works closely with schools, colleges, day centres, care homes, hospitals and hospices. It is so popular that Caremark is now getting requests from organisations in other areas. These organisations want us to bring their dogs to their settings.
Michelle Jackson, Caremark Managing Director and owner of 12 of the dogs, said: “When we introduced CareBark, we hoped the dogs would make a meaningful difference, but the response has exceeded all our expectations.
“To see the service grow to 16 therapy dogs in just three years shows how much people value the comfort, confidence and companionship they provide.”
Help us bring our dogs to even more people
Even though Caremark customers can pay for the dog therapy from their assessed care packages, others need to pay privately. However, recognising the budgetary pressures on organisations such as schools and the NHS, Caremark has been doing its own fundraising to enable the sessions to take place.
Michelle added: “We know that schools, health services and community organisations are under significant financial pressure, and many simply do not have the budget for additional services, however valuable they may be.
“We fundraise wherever we can, but we would warmly welcome donations or sponsorship from businesses with corporate social responsibility programmes. In addition, individuals who are in a position to support us are very welcome too.
“Their generosity would help us bring the comfort and companionship of CareBark to many more people.”
About Caremark Redcar and Cleveland
People who would like to benefit from the CareBark service, or can help with funding, can contact Caremark Redcar and Cleveland on 01287 634706 or email redcar@caremark.co.uk.