Mayhew has been awarded a generous grant of £145,480 by the Pets at Home Foundation for the charity’s Animal Assisted Interventions (AAI) programme, TheraPaws, which will enable the charity to develop and expand their work in this area and make a positive impact on more people in London who would benefit from the service.

Thanks to the grant a new full time Coordinator will be recruited to help develop, deliver and manage the TheraPaws programme in order to build more community partnerships, co-ordinate sessions, recruit, train and support volunteers to deliver the programme, all with the resulting impact of reaching more people and improving their physical and mental wellbeing.

Since 2012, TheraPaws has provided support for the elderly, young people with mental health issues and patients in hospitals and clinics. TheraPaws is delivered by trained volunteers and their behaviourally assessed dogs to deliver AAI to promote physical, mental and emotional wellbeing.

Since its commencement, TheraPaws has helped thousands of people and whilst the service was temporarily put on hold during the coronavirus pandemic, in the period from January to December 2022, the project delivered certain key notable outcomes. These included 40 visits and 553 individual therapy engagements to people in locations ranging from hospital wards, care homes, and eating disorder clinics to schools and mental health clinics.

Now, thanks to the grant, Mayhew hopes to increase the number of visits in 2023.

As Mayhew Chief Executive Sherine Wheeler explains, “This important grant can make a difference to people of all ages in our community. It means we can expand the programme with new partnerships, recruit more volunteers, partner with more venues and improve the health and wellbeing of many more people through our hugely impactful therapeutic pet visits. It is a fantastic start to 2023 and we look forward to seeing TheraPaws go from strength to strength in the future.”

Amy Angus, Pets at Home Foundation Charity Manager, said, “We’re very proud to work with Mayhew, as not only does it help pets in need, but it cares hugely about the local community too. It is a real privilege to be able to support them.”