New pet programme brings paw-sitive benefits for students
Furry, four-legged friends are at the heart of a new wellbeing programme that plans to draw on dogs’ nature to enhance student welfare at the University of Edinburgh.
Paws on Campus – a first of its kind in the UK – could provide a new style of support for students experiencing stress and anxiety.
The unique programme combines clinical psychology with veterinary science through a series of structured activity sessions that aim to improve mental health and promote an understanding of canine welfare.
Each session focuses on specific learning outcomes and therapeutic objectives that are designed to help students reflect on their own challenges and recognise the connections between their wellbeing and an animal’s welfare needs.
The sessions flow really well and it has been great learning the various grounding and awareness techniques that you can also do in your own time. I found it made mindfulness – something that I struggled with before - so much easier when there is a dog to focus on
Wholesome collaboration
Paws on Campus has been trialled in collaboration with Canine Concern Scotland’s Therapets Service, which provided the registered dogs and their handlers.
The programme’s use of psychological principles differs to other pet therapies, being the first of its kind to combine student mental health and animal welfare through a series of planned sessions.
The Paws on Campus programme builds on studies conducted at the University of Washington and University of British Columbia in the US.
Creators of the programme, Professor Jo Williams and Laura Wauthier of Clinical and Health Psychology at the School of Health in Social Science, and Dr Andrew Gardiner from the Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies, are hoping it can be used to deliver benefits to students.
Following trial sessions towards the end of 2022, the team are looking into ways they can link the programme with the University’s student wellbeing services.
Paws on Campus has been supported by the Principal’s Teaching Award Scheme for the first year to refine the sessions and put in place an evaluation framework to ensure the programme meets the needs of students.
The University of Edinburgh offers a range of counselling and wellbeing services to its students, including to one-to-one counselling, a 24/7 Listening Service, wellbeing workshops, and guided self-help and online support packages.
Interacting with dogs can have a range of benefits for students from reducing stress to increasing positive mood. We have developed Paws on Campus to meet the needs of students by co-producing the sessions with the students themselves. Each session has a key focus, based on psychological research, to enhance wellbeing and provide each participant with skills that they can use to support their mental health. Interacting with the dogs is an essential part of the programme and students also learn about canine welfare and compassion to self and others.
Paws on Campus is a great opportunity to have fun, learn about the subtle cues that dogs use to communicate and provide students with a range of skills to support their wellbeing. We are hoping that the project will create a framework for university campus dog programmes that can be used nationally and internationally.”
Related links
Paws on Campus at the University of Edinburgh
Images - Neil Hanna Photography