Who we are…
Creative Action Team supports many children and young people throughout Cheshire East like our son by offering animal assisted therapy and alternative education provision. We know that as a community interest company, funds are limited and many more children like our son are struggling with their social-emotional health and well-being, anxiety, bullying, and self-esteem, confidence, friendships, which require their help. That is why I am cycling to raise funds for this amazing organisation to help them improve their outdoor space for all the children and young people and of course the dogs too.
Why us?…
Since January 2022 our son has been supported by qualified therapists at CAT who use animal-assisted therapy as part of their therapeutic approach supporting positive emotional and mental well-being and confidence. Our autistic son, like many other young people, had been experiencing barriers within education and was finding it increasingly difficult to engage with school and other services. He needed a more therapeutic approach as ‘talk therapies’ alone were not something that at the time he was comfortable with. Our son’s barriers and difficulties with engaging in his school setting expanded to finding it harder to leave the home, especially after the nationwide lockdown. The fear and overwhelming anxiety that our son was experiencing was difficult to witness and we needed to find another way, as all other options were not working for him. We began to work with CAT in January 2022 which was initially online…our son quickly opted to go into the centre as his need to be with the dogs was the magnetic draw we had hoped it might be.
Breaking Barriers…
Since those early days of tentative visits, where our son found it hard to communicate, didn’t want to sit on the furniture, remove his face mask or gloves, struggled to express himself to other people, and required the support of a parent to stay with him throughout his sessions, he has come so far.…his self-image and confidence have vastly improved, his belief in his ability has increased and his interactions with other people are more natural. He is working with Nic alongside her lovely dogs, Amber and Olive, and is now having weekly indoor and outdoor therapy sessions working on emotional well-being and mental wellness, experiencing nature, wildlife, and photography.
It’s the unique combination of supportand animals…
He is also working with Carly, the CAT tutor, as part of the alternative education they offer, and has completed several AQA Awards. He is currently working on the topics of politics and the environment, and climate change quite diverse. Learning is all person-centred and child-led, which suits his inquiring mind!
Our son has built up strong working relationships with the team (humans) and strong bonds with all the dogs and knows their natures and quirks!
We as so grateful for the work that CAT has done and is continuing to do with our son. Without this provision, we don’t believe that such amazing and positive progress would have been possible. It’s not just ‘playing with dogs’ it is so much more, it is going at our son's pace, supporting his growth both emotionally and educationally to become more confident in himself and with his learning.
Many barriers exist for children and young people…
Creative Action Team supports many children and young people throughout Cheshire East like our son. We know that as a CiC funds are limited and many more children like our son are struggling with their social-emotional health and well-being, anxiety, bullying, and self-esteem, confidence, friendships, which require their help. That is why I am cycling to raise funds for this amazing organisation to help them improve their outdoor space for all the children and young people and of course the dogs too.
Outdoor spaces help mental health and wellbeing…
Please give what you can spare to support Creative Action Team’s Garden Project.
Thank you
Pete Lynch