Pets in the Classroom

Joey is an albino Gecko who currently lives at our Mountainview location on Merritville Highway in Welland. Joey was originally funded and part of a program by Pets in the Classroom which is an educational grant program that provides financial support to purchase and maintain small animals to provide children with an opportunity to interact with pets, an experience that can help shape lives. When originally funded, Joey lived in our Day Treatment Classrooms. Now, we are sharing the benefits of Joey with our Outreach and Summer Camp Programs. Joey comes with a unique ability to support trauma as he himself has a traumatic past that included time in a Special Care Nursery when he was first born giving the clinicians and opportunity to discuss trauma, introduce empathy, as well as demonstrate how one can thrive after a traumatic start. Joey has been accessed by clients and families to provide support and decrease anxiety, as just holding Joey can have this impact.

Animal Assisted Therapy Programs

Pathstone Mental Health continues to embed innovative, and evidence-based therapies to support our young people and families to thrive. Pathstone has introduced Animal Assisted Therapy. This is a broad term that is commonly used to describe the use of various animals in animal assisted therapy. Animal integrated interventions are goal-directed interventions which can be an integral part of the treatment process. They are designed to promote improvement in human physical, social, emotional or cognitive function. Facility animal are expertly trained to partner with a handler and are committed to serving their clients.