Clients who attend our sessions are referred to us by various support groups, charities and institutions. Find out about becoming a partnering organisation.
Our Donkey Assisted Activities depend on partnership organisations referring and supporting clients on their developmental journeys.
Referring Donkey Assisted Activity clients
A support organisation should understand why the client would like to develop their wellbeing and life skills. This includes any physical, mental or emotional considerations or risks.
Both the support organisation and the client should be aware of what our services provide (e.g. wellbeing and life skill development) and what they don’t (e.g. counselling or psychotherapy).
The support organisation needs to complete a referral form for the client, providing the necessary client details and background for our team to assess the client’s suitability for Donkey Assisted Activities.
Supporting clients
It is often necessary to ensure that there is on-site support for clients in addition to the facilitators they will be working with during the sessions. The majority of these support allocations are staff members of the referring organisation. In some cases, in agreement with the facilitator running the programme, this allocated support may be a family member or friend who understands the client's developmental needs.
The partner organisation staff member may be supporting a group of clients who attend (for example, a teacher or support group leader) or an individual. This person should ideally remain constant throughout the client’s programme to ensure continuity of support.
The partner organisation also needs to provide feedback at the end of their client’s programme. This needs to reflect on the client’s journey and share their perspective on the client’s development from the service.
Referring groups of Donkey Assisted Activity clients
Certain Donkey Assisted Activities programmes are particularly geared towards groups, providing the opportunity to develop skills needed for teamwork, communication and empathy.
If you are interested in referring a group, either of school or college children or adults, we have referral forms tailored for group referral. Please get in touch with your regional centre for more information.
We accept school referrals from Year 5 (age 9) upwards. Pupils should be able to follow instructions and reflect on their experiences in order to develop their life skills.
Some of our partner organisations who refer clients to us for Donkey Assisted Activities include schools, GPs, humanitarian charities, social services and mental health support agencies. If you are interested in partnering with us as a referring support organisation, please complete the enquiry form below.
