Oliver's Army Assistance and Therapy Dog's Therapy Award

Our team is made up of dedicated volunteers who are passionate about making a difference in our communities. We work tirelessly to ensure that our services are meeting the needs of those we serve.

Oliver's Army Assistance and Therapy Dogs offer a service in which we can visit schools with one of our very own trained Therapy dogs.  

We provide many different types of therapies with the young people including:  

Play Therapy-      

Primarily for mental health and education purposes. It is valuable in helping young people, and can be provided for individuals, groups, and families.  This encouragement of play and playfulness as the primary means of expressing feelings and developing relationships within a school environment. 

Reading/Story time-  

By reading to a dog, nervous children are met with a non-judgmental and attentive listener which in turn can help build their confidence and self-esteem. 

Building Confidence around dogs-

We understand that not everyone is comfortable being around dogs or can even be scared of them. This can impact may result in avoidance of everyday activities such as visiting the park, going to see friends, or simply walking down the street.  We aim to deal with these worries by working at a very slow and supportive pace.  Using different techniques such role play, educating about dogs and their behaviours and demonstrations.

Young Handlers Training-

Our volunteers work with small groups within a school environment, doing training with our therapy dogs.  We provide age specific courses to the youngsters and all can achieve certification on completion of the course.  This training helps support youngsters with self esteem, confidence and education around dogs as well as building friendships, team building skills and self achievement.  

At Oliver's Army Assistance and Therapy Dogs, we envision a world where every person has access to the resources they need to live a healthy, happy, and fulfilling life. We strive to create a world where everyone has the opportunity to thrive, regardless of their background or circumstances.  Oliver's Army Assistance and Therapy Dogs believe in supporting and investing in young people. Supporting and encouraging young people to reach their full potential as valued individuals. We aim to build emotional bonding, cognitive development, socialisation, and safety around dogs.  These sessions can be done in small groups or working with an individual.  

Emotional Based School Avoidance is a term used to describe children and young people who experience challenges in attending school due to negative feelings such as anxiety. Emotional Based School Avoidance also known as EBSC, is commonly associated with emotional and physical distress, and a reluctance to attend school, which can lead to reduced attendance and further anxiety regarding school.  EBSC often  encompasses symptoms and  behaviours associated with  particular diagnoses and  difficulties, such as social anxiety  disorder, generalized anxiety  disorder, separation anxiety,  specific phobias, major  depression, post-traumatic stress  disorder and more.  Our therapy dogs can aid this by supporting children walking to and from school, gentle start to a school day, building bonds and friendships within a school environment.  Our volunteers and therapy dogs show no judgement for what is happening in a child's life or show negativity to the children's feelings and emotions.
 

Many of our volunteers do talks and demonstrations, from small groups to full assemblies, discussing all the different work we do at Oliver's Army Assistance and Therapy Dogs.  It is important for us to educate the hard work that is put in to training an assistance or therapy dog, what to do when you meet a working dog and present some of our success stories and how they have massively changed people's lives for the better.  Demonstrations of the dogs tasks are always a big hit with the younger crowds.  Showing them how the dog supports people, with disabilities and needs, adapting to help them, cope with limitations, overcome challenges, and build a rewarding life.