FAQs

Yes, we visit local schools for both Animal Education Workshops and Animal Assisted Therapy for groups and individuals. We will discuss your requirements for the curriculum intent so that we can help to meet the curriculum outcomes relevant to the key stage or SEMH outputs.

This can depend on the number of people wishing to meet and learn about our animals, but in an hour session, on average we meet eight different, amazing animals. This can include mammals, reptiles and invertebrates.

Absolutely. Sessions depend on the voluntary participation of both the person and the animal. Obviously, if the preferred animal is not well, or is not willingly participating, we would work with the assitance of another animal by mutual consent with a willing animal and the child / person.

You can most certainly request favourite animals, and of course animals you do not want to meet. Working with animals means that we must put their welfare first and this means we can not 100% guarantee a specific animal will be present. For example, if an animal is moulting / shedding it's skin (like a snake), this can be a vulnerable time for the animal, so we do not handle the animal during this time. We do have lots of lovely animals and therefore it is highly unlikely that a similar animal will not be avaialble and happy to participate in the encounter.

We have never had a complaint, and AiM pride ourselves on meeting everyones needs. We are members of the Society of Companion Animal Studies and comply with their code of practice. If you feel for any reason that we have not cared for you / our animals, we welcome feedback directly to us by emailing enquiries@animalsinmind.uk asking for our complaints procedure.

A big question... Disease prevention starts at home with our animal welfare. Providing an excellent home and environment for all of our animals that is stress free, clean and full of the right enrichment is the starting point as this prevents stress. Animals that are happy, with all of their needs fulfilled are also less likely to carry disease. In appropriate species, we vaccinate and use appropriate parasite control, for example in mammals, fleas and ticks can carry disease so all mammals are treated in a 'preventative medicine approach'. We only buy food for our meat eating pets, such as snakes from reputable traceable suppliers, as sometimes the food you feed a snake for example could (if not from a good supplier) carry disease such as salmonella. We routinely then faecal (poo) check our animals, as again, prevention is better than cure. We NEVER allow an animal that is unwell to meet a client and all animals live with us as pets, so we can monitor signs of behavioural change throughout the day and prior to any client interaction. Behavioural monitoring is essential as this is often the first sign of illness. In situ and when clients visit, we have rigorous and thorough risk-assessment and hygiene practices - you can see examples in our health and safety section. We always highlight to our clients how to keep themselves safe through correct hand-hygiene and when clients e.g pregnancy, or severely immune-compromised should avoid handling.

Animals can be outside, depending on the weather conditions, the animals assisting us and the time of year. If we have exotic species, such as a Bearded Dragon, or an African Pygmy Hedgehog, we always factor in their native environment and replicate this both in the home, and in their temporary on-site set up. These two species for example can not cope in typical UK weather, so we would not expect them to, and in early spring, or late Autumn and winter if we are attending outside events, we will require an indoor location should the weather be cold or wet. On very hot days, mammals such as rabbits and Guinea pigs can suffer from the effects of heat, so we have to factor in essential shade. We will not travel with mammals during heat waves and predicted high summer temperatures.

We work with a lot of children with emotional and learning or behavioural challenges and our starting point is always a conversation to make sure that what we provide is suitable. We NEVER do a hard sell. We listen, see how we can help, give examples and then allow you to determine through conversation with the child if this is for them. We provide a 'learning journey guide' that illustrates the process we go through BEFORE sign up. This is all in place to establish the persons needs, likes and interests and includes an application process and an starting point assessment to establish any gaols, or barriers. We provide total transparency in our published costs, and where the cost may differ to those already on our website, we will provide a written quotation. The quotation is beneficial to you to provide to funding agencies, such as EOTAS and Pupil Premium. Sessions for individuals with ASD can be either 1-1, or small group.