Dog & Art Therapy for Special Needs

Young people with behavioural and psychiatric problems often have difficulty to find themselves in society. The behaviour depended on disorder isolates these people and drops out at the margins of society. Very often such youngsters have a withdrawn attitude, communication problems, anxiety, aggression, lack of skills, motivation and self-confidence. It’s very hard to find the job for youngsters with behavioural and psychiatric disorders.
Scientific research have shown that art and dog therapy help people with various mental and behavioural disorders overcome social barriers and facilitate their integration into society. With the use of special education programs with dogs and art therapy, there has been an improvement in the functioning of people with various disorders. Improvements were psychological (courage, openness in communication, better communication with peers, etc.) and functional (language development, better physical functioning, etc.).
It is often assumed that dog is usual pet in our environment, therefore, its purchase may itself be called “therapy". Meanwhile, the process of selection and training of dog for therapy purpose is not so simple as it looks. It would be right to mention that not every dog can be therapeutic, as well as not every person, who has therapeutic dog, can take classes with disordered people. Dog therapy is not just about knowledge of dog's qualities, ability to predict its mood, etc. It's an activity with people who have problems. That means working with the most sensitive group of population, therefore it is necessary to know all disorders very well, be able to to choose the right methodology, set tasks, raise real goals and have appropriate provisions for people with disabilities.
Within this project we would like:
To provide 5-days training for youth workers who deal with special needs and eager to know how to use art and dog therapy for better socialization of youngsters with various psychiatric and behavioural disorders.
Communication language will be English.
Training place: Klaipėda District, Lithuania.
WE ARE LOOKING SUCH PARTNER ORGANISATIONS, WHICH:
1. work with young people having psychiatric disorders (for example, autism, depression)
2. are established in any EU country
3. are interested in art and dog therapy
4. able to send to training in Lithuania 4 youth workers and/or experts in dog/art therapy (age is not limited)