Many awareness months remind us to be conscious of the circumstances of others and to encourage us to celebrate some of the values that are meaningful in our lives. For Our Special Friends, they enable us to raise awareness and help us to explain why there is a need for the animal companionship support services we provide.
In April we celebrated National Pet Month which aims to raise awareness around responsible pet ownership through educational campaigns and by offering resources across various platforms. National Pet Month celebrates pet ownership, sharing the many benefits of our cherished companions across the UK. This is a message that Our Special Friends endorses all year round. We often find that if the welfare of a pet is being neglected it can be the first indication to the outside world that there is a problem at home. Animals suffer from stress too, and it can have an equally devastating impact on their health and their behaviour. Our Special Friends aims to gently get to the root of the problem, and put the necessary steps in place find a solution for everyone involved, including the animal.
April also saw Stress Awareness Month. Stress can manifest itself in all sorts of ways both mentally and physically and sometimes with devastating effects to people (and the animals around them). Our Special Friends aims to support this, and other forms of vulnerability, where the relationship of a person and their companion animal is compromised.
We see many clients who need help to cope because, without our intervention, they find it difficult to recognise and get the help they need. We do this by alleviating the immediacy of the problem, by sorting out ‘fostering to reunite’ or dog walking for example, and then we connect them with people or practitioners to provide a more long-term solution. The aim being to preserve the relationship that is so important to their wellbeing. Not only the wellbeing of the client, but also that of their companion animal. Sadly, sometimes it is the relationship that is detrimental to the animal’s welfare as we often see when a stressful home environment is impacting negatively on the family’s pet.
The Stress Management Society offer free advice and support for people who are trying to alleviate the stress from their lives. From online workshops and events, individual stress tests, and guides to recognising stress and putting together a long-term plan to reduce it.
