Sidmouth – Donkey Assisted Therapy Centre

For more than 40 years, The Donkey Sanctuary has provided donkey assisted therapy to children in the UK and overseas, reflecting Dr Svendsen’s love of children and donkeys. Discover the emotional and physical impact this activity has had, and how the charity is building for stronger future impact.

The Donkey Sanctuary has recently trialled and introduced a new programme, which sees children spending a little less time on the back of a donkey, but significantly more time interacting and engaging with the donkeys. This approach will see children learn through experiencing and discovering things about the donkeys through hands-on interaction with the donkeys. It provides more opportunity for a connection between donkey and child on an emotional as well as a physical level.

This also means we can now measure those “magical moments” of engagement of the child with the donkey but also assess if the donkey’s life is enriched as a consequence.

The Donkey Sanctuary National Schools Programme offers a range of educational services that provide inspiration and impact on thousands of young people every year.

School visits – Enjoy a great educational visit to our Sanctuary near Sidmouth, Devon.

Assemblies and Talks – We deliver engaging and informative assemblies on the international role of The Donkey Sanctuary to secure a better future for the 50 million donkeys and mules worldwide. Perhaps you could take up our fundraising challenge to help our work.

Education – A range of educational resources for schools have been developed, with a view to furthering one of our core aims in promoting understanding, care and welfare issues for animals by young people.