Paw Pals - Therapy Dog Thursday

Run by MackIllop Family Services, Paw Pals works to provide support workers and therapy dogs to students who face any difficulties to learning. Paw Pals aims to help improve confidence, behaviour and self-regulation for students who require the support.
Amazingly, with the support of the community, Paw Pals have been able to help over 1300 kids, working across Melbourne, Geelong, Ballarat and Bendigo.
The demand for their support continues and their program is continuing to grow, enabling them to help more and more students every day. Due to this demand, the appeal to the community for donations and support is always there.

Lara Shannon, a Paw Pals Ambassador shares the impact the dogs have on the students.

“Children respond to a compassionate wet nose. The program is trauma-informed and much more than bringing a dog to school, but if you’ve ever melted when looking at a pair of soft brown eyes, you will understand why Paw Pals works.
“Dogs have an innate sense of responding to human emotion, body language and needs. When children meet MacKillop’s Paw Pals, it’s the start of getting back in touch with their education.”

Paw Pals offer two services, school group sessions which allow up to 8 students at a time in a session to 1 on 1 sessions, which can be taken anywhere the student feels comfortable.

The results from Paw Pals speak for themselves and parents and children involved cannot speak highly enough of the program, with many saying the confidence and attendance records of their children improving greatly.
  

Want to learn more about Paw Pals or how you can support them? Visit here for more info!