Therapy dogs provide emotional support to patients

Canine company is helping to improve the health and wellbeing of mental health patients at Caboolture Hospital.

Border collie Ewan and cavoodle Tinkerbell lifted the spirits of patients and staff at the Mental Health Facility as part of Valentine’s Day celebrations.

Social worker Amanda Blacklock said animal-based therapy has been shown to help people with a mental illness by reducing loneliness, as well as improving self-esteem and a patient’s journey to recovery.

“As a special treat, we thought we would bring Tinkerbell and Ewan in to celebrate Valentine’s Day with the patients as this time of year can often be very lonely time,” she said.

“The company of animals has been proven to reduce loneliness, but the uplifting experience can also improve the physical, social, emotional and cognitive state of a person.”

Tinkerbell and Ewan are from volunteer organisation Delta Society Australia, and have visited the patients each Tuesday over the past year.