“Pets help people to cope when others aren’t there”: Suffolk charity leader pleads for council help
Our Special Friends works by providing help and support for vulnerable people using pets
Last updated 22nd Oct 2023
A charity leader has addressed the council and has pleaded for more support.
Dr Belinda Johnston, the founder of Our Special Friends, addressed the council yesterday and shared the charity’s importance.
Our Special Friends works by providing help and support for vulnerable people using pets, through a range of different services.
These include, for instance, home visits and accompanied walks with those who are socially isolated and vulnerable, as well providing support to those who can no longer keep their pets.
But, as the cost-of-living crisis continues to tighten pockets across the country, charities continue to face exceptional challenges.
Yesterday, Dr Johnston pleaded with the council for help in creating a ‘sustainable organisation’ by way of funding and more encouragement for people to become volunteers.
She said: “What we are doing is completely new and is a relatively low-cost diagnostic and preventative health initiative.
“We are helping the council and the NHS to save money and helping residents to get the care and support that they need.
“Pets are carers, they keep people in solitude living well.”
The charity, which operates across West Suffolk, Mid Suffolk, and Babergh, regularly receives feedback from some of the county’s most vulnerable people, some of whom have ‘incredibly complex’ cases.
Someone who benefitted from the services wrote: “Well after losing my husband and daughter, they gave me a big lift as I was really down.”
“They gave me a reason to get up in the morning and look forward to their visits,” wrote another.
Although the charity helps people from all paths of life, some of its work also focuses on forging ‘wonderful relationships’, between people and pets, as well as helping those who ‘bounce in and out of hospital’ be able to interact with theirs.
Dr Johnston explained: “If you’re being sectioned, you do not want to come out of hospital and find out that the only thing that was working for you when you were at home is no longer there.”
“But we are a charity, and we need sustainable funding.”