Description
The purpose of the project - to give additional knowledge and practical skills to people involved with children with disabilities for rehabilitation work using Canistherapy. Three organizations from Ida -Virumaa and Harjumaa are involved in the project , as well as organizations from Poland, Russia and Latvia. This project is the second phase of the project " Rehabilitation by Canistherapy for children". During the first phase base has been prepared for further training and start-up. The first stage was the formation of a group of volunteers who are willing to learn more on the initial stage of "assistant of canistherapy practitioner" and contribute to the development of Canistherapy in Estonia. The next stage of this project will provide an opportunity for learning and future of canistherapy practitioners and start of they career. The main beneficiaries (children with disabilities and their parents) in the first phase have not yet had direct benefit from the project. The result of the second phase will bring new opportunity to provide rehabilitation services - Canistherapy for children with disabilities and it is a direct benefit to the core target group .
Summary of project results
The poject has reached its objective to start with the method of Canistherapy in Estonia. The outputs of the projects were: 1. The first five dogs and handlers have passed the qualifying exam and received the Estonian-Czech certificates that allow engaging with Canistherapy. This was one of the most important tasks of the project. 2. The training of the dogs. For several months, the dogs attended a special school, where they were taught in the presence of a qualified coach. The results have been very positive. Every week the dogs were visiting the city library, to "listen” and to "read" together with children. Practice of Canistherapy has began by project participants from Tallinn, Harju County and Võru. 3. Members of the NGO gained new knowledge, that will be useful for the present and future work. The knowledge gained in the project were first aid, diagnoses and child diseases, basic teaching techniques. This has significantly increased the professionalism of the project's team members. Without this knowledge Canistherapy can rather harm than benefit children and discredit the concept of Canistherapy. 4.Canistherapy experts from six countries (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Czech Republic, Russia and Spain) shared their knowledge and experiences. This enabled to adopt the best practices and create a system of Estonian Canistherapy.
Summary of bilateral results