HugglePets in the Community (HugglePetsCIC) is today celebrating after being awarded funding by the Coronavirus Community Support Fund, distributed by the National Lottery Community Fund and HM Government to support our work with supporting children's mental health. The community interest company based in Wolverhampton will use the funding to run more sessions in animal assisted interventions and therapies in schools on the return to the classroom following the pandemic.

The aims of the project are to improve the social, emotional and mental wellbeing of pupils returning to the new norms in the classroom, and help those children affected by domestic abuse during the lockdown. 

HugglePetsCIC has been running since 2018 and was set up following feedback from the community about how the animals on the HugglePets site were supporting children who were autistic and adults struggling with their mental health and loneliness. They have recently won a Signature Award for ‘Community Excellence’ for their work in 2019 in supporting children with autism via their new Community Aquarium and Sensory Activity Centre.

The new funding will help to cover the costs of adaptations made from our current delivery of these animal assisted therapies and sessions, and expand the number of children that can benefit from the programmes.  

Hannah Dixon, Community Projects Manager, says: “We’re delighted to have received this funding from the Coronavirus Community Support Fund. Now, we will be able adapt our services and programmes to ensure as many children as possible are supported with their mental health. This is important because it helps the children to build healthy relationships with others facing similar challenges and to create their own supportive circles of friends and peers.”

If you would like to engage in our programmes, would like to work with us or know someone who would benefit from our work please contact us at - [email protected]