Our Donkey Assisted Activities are attended by a broad range of clients, catering to diverse ages, backgrounds, cultures and personal journeys.
Our sessions recognise that there is both vulnerability and strength in all of us, given the circumstance or environment. We believe that time spent amongst donkeys and nature can provide everyone developmental opportunities and wellbeing benefits.
The journey to becoming a Donkey Assisted Activity client
Stage one: Being referred
There is a two-stage process to accessing our Donkey Assisted Activity Programmes.
Firstly, clients, their guardians or a member of staff supporting them, may contact one of our regional centres to enquire about Donkey Assisted Activities. Our regional centres are in Belfast, Birmingham, Ivybridge, Leeds, Manchester and Sidmouth.
Our teams can provide more information on the Donkey Assisted Activities and facilities at their regional centres. They will then ask you to find a referring organisation to refer you for our services and support you during your programme journey.
Once your referring organisation has submitted a referral form, our qualified staff will assess the form. Our team will then inform you whether your form has been accepted.
Find out more about the referral process
Stage two: Taster sessions
We will invite you to a taster session if we accept your referral form. A taster session is a chance to meet the team and experience being around the donkeys. We use this as an opportunity for our staff members to further assess whether a Donkey Assisted Activity programme can support your needs at this moment in time.
All Taster Sessions require you or your guardian to sign a consent form before your time with the donkeys. This is to ensure that we have made you aware of any risks of being around donkeys and that you understand these and are happy to proceed. Risks are very rare occurrences, and our staff are always there to guide you.
For clients accepted onto a programme, our staff will agree on what programme this will be, the number of sessions your programme will contain. We will also work with you to identify any particular life skill or development you would like to focus on during your time amongst the donkeys.
Your Donkey Assisted Activity programme
Our programmes follow specific session guides.
Although our sessions follow pre-planned guides, the sessions progress organically, tailored to suit your developmental needs and the journey that unfolds while you're amongst the donkeys. Sessions end with a debrief between you and the programme facilitator so that you can both identify the best way forward for your experience.
At the end of your programme, you will get an opportunity to reflect on your experiences and the progress you have made. We will ask you to complete a journey overview form, where you, your facilitator and a member of your referring organisation can all contribute to a collaborative reflection on your experiences.
Gathering data
As we are committed to scientifically measuring the impact of our activities on both donkeys and humans, we will ask clients to complete some brief surveys on well-being and life skills at the beginning, end and after our programmes. This helps to give you and us an insight into how Donkey Assisted Activity has impacted these areas.
For those who completed the life skills surveys before their programme, we will contact you six months after your programme to ask you to fill in the life skills survey for a final time. This is so we can assess how Donkey Assisted Activity can impact long-term life skill development and how these skills are retained.
