A EXPERIENCE WITH DONKEYS , with Bettina Mutschler and Dr. Rainer Wohlfarth
Our Mobility to Germany, at Ani.Motion–Animal Assisted Therapy Institute
Respect for donkeys and the animals' will are the two main rules that were asked of us as we entered the paddock. Before interacting with the animals, we started to talk calmly, learn each donkey’s characteristics, and then share experiences.
Donkey-assisted services are ground-based activities included in Equine-Assisted Services that support the well-being and life skills of donkeys and humans, helping them to better deal with challenging and stressful situations in everyday life. Donkey-assisted therapy influences the patient’s confidence and feeling of pleasure by touching, stroking and grooming.
Ani.Motion programs offer services to a vast client base while honoring the freedom of choice for the donkeys.
The work developed at this Institute is based on mindfulness and living in the present moment. It takes advantage of the gentle and calm nature of donkeys to provide emotional and psychological benefits to individuals, like stress reduction, mood improvement, social skills and managing emotions, practice focus and attention and trust that the human-donkey interactions will give steadiness in which to deconstruct and rebuild thinking and behaviour patterns.
As the conversation unfolded and we learned about Bettina´s work, we began to capture the donkeys' attention as they approached us looking for interactions.
Bettina and Dr Rainer work along with four lovely donkeys, mostly in Equine-assisted learning and psychotherapy, just in the border of Black Forest in Sasbachwalden, Germany. This is a very recent field using donkeys in helping clients with several mental health disorders, mostly related to stress, as depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, or anxiety.
“I felt an incredible energy and an emotional involvement with these charming beings, in an amazing natural environment with the black forest surrounding us. The environment, the involvement and positive energy of these therapeutic interventions became clear.”
Lara Neto, a participant in the mobility
During the mobility, we also reinforced our partnership and started thinking and preparing the educational material for our Spectacular Courses and Webinars to come!!!
Thank you Bettina and Rainer for the sharing and warm welcome.
Lara Ferreira Neto, Ines Pereira de Figueiredo
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