Animal Assisted Therapy for Special Needs Children

As children in Israel finish up their school year and start summer holidays at the end of the month, the AAT program is also finishing up it work with school groups for the year.

This year we ran at the Zoo some 14 weekly therapy groups and another 5 groups of classes from special education frameworks who came bi-weekly for experiential afternoons with a special guide.

As well as special education classes, we have also hosted a number of groups of youth-at-risk this year.

This week the break-up parties are being held at the end of the session and there have already been sad tears of goodbye - from the therapists as much as from the children!

Have a safe summer!

Rachael and the AAT Team

Hello Valued Supporters!

Over the years, this has become a sought after and successful therapeutic program in Jerusalem. So much so, that every year, several groups of social workers, teachers and students come to hear more about our project. They are usually very impressed by its uniqueness, professionalism and creativity.

At one of the meetings, for example, with an explanation of the uniqueness of our project, we demonstrated a therapeutic session to a group of animal therapy students from David Yellin College during which they fed the lions and bears, so as to experience the intensity of the activities used to treat participants. From the breadth of the animal collection available to us at the zoo (ranging from domesticated animals to giraffes, elephants and reptiles), they were able to understand the advantages of our program over those conducted in petting zoos.

In addition, we have held symposia with other institutions – for example, with a multidisciplinary team from one of the women's shelters in Jerusalem.

We are grateful to you, our valued supporters, for making this meaningful program possible!

The Animal Assisted Therapy Team at the Jerusalem Biblical Zoo