Animal Assisted Therapy
Sometimes having a friendly, reassuring dog nearby can make the difference between feeling overwhelmed and feeling able to settle, connect and take part.
Since inception, we’ve noticed a lot of interest in animals among young people in our sessions and they are a personal passion of one of our co-directors too. We’ve made links with local vets, animal behaviourists, welcomed dogs. ferrets and tortoises into our sessions and our Spark Base Lead, Mihal also has experience in this area. We are therefore delighted to have made links with Animal Assisted Therapist, Sharon Burrows, and her therapy dogs Jasper and Copper who can be available to support young people at Waymakers sessions.
Sharon is a Cognitive Behavioural Therapist (CBT) and Mindfulness Teacher who works alongside her therapy dogs, Jasper and Copper. Together, they can offer an additional layer of support for children and young people who experience anxiety, find unfamiliar environments difficult, or simply feel more comfortable with animals than with people.
At Waymakers, this support fits naturally with our emphasis on agency, choice, compassion and participation at each young person's own pace.
A child does not have to interact with the dogs. They might choose to spend time with them, observe them from a distance, or simply have a dog nearby as a calming presence.
Introducing Sharon
Sharon is a Cognitive Behavioural Therapist and Mindfulness Teacher, offering in-person and online therapy, both one-to-one and in groups. Her work draws on evidence-based CBT and mindfulness-based approaches.
Her route into this work began during an earlier career as a Computer Science and Business IT teacher in further and higher education in North Wales. She became increasingly aware of how many young people and adults were quietly living with anxiety, depression and other mental health difficulties, and wanted to better understand their experiences and create safe, supportive learning environments.
After moving to Cambridgeshire in 1999, Sharon became involved in Community Education, creating classes specifically for people diagnosed with mental health conditions. She wanted to provide places where people felt valued, could learn new skills, build friendships and talk openly without judgement.
This led to further training at the University of Cambridge Faculty of Education, including supporting people with physical and learning difficulties. She later joined a pioneering project helping autistic adults gain qualifications and access meaningful employment or further study.
These experiences led Sharon back to her CBT training. She completed a Diploma in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, followed by a Master's degree in Mindfulness-Based Approaches, specialising in Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) and Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT).
Sharon has practised mindfulness since 2008 and is committed to ongoing professional development and evidence-based practice, using the Mindfulness-Based Interventions: Teaching Assessment Criteria (MBI:TAC) as part of her professional framework. Alongside her therapeutic work, Sharon offers Animal Assisted Therapy with her therapy dogs.
Introducing Jasper
Jasper is a seven-year-old Cavalier King Charles Spaniel and an experienced therapy dog and professional friend-maker!
He began his journey after the loss of the family's much-loved therapy dog, Dylan. From an early age, Jasper trained at Charlie's Dog Training in Soham, learning to be calm, responsive and comfortable around people.
His work has included supporting autistic adults and students, including autistic students at the University of Cambridge. He became a natural ice-breaker at social groups created for students who wanted to make friends in quieter, dog-friendly environments.
Jasper has also worked with young people and adults in homes, schools, colleges, workplaces and Sharon's private practice.
He is a long-serving therapy dog for a large global pharmaceutical company, where he takes part in wellbeing events, and is a regular visitor to Long Road Sixth Form College, supporting students during wellbeing weeks, exam periods and special events.
Jasper's particular talent is simply being there. He doesn't demand conversation, eye contact or interaction. He offers a friendly presence, affection and companionship — and lets people decide how much contact they want.
Introducing Copper
Copper is a one-year-old crossbreed, with a Golden Retriever–Poodle mix mum and Cocker Spaniel dad. He is a therapy dog in training and Sharon describes him as a ‘big bouncy bear’!
He was originally expected to be a small, sleepy, calm little dog. Instead, he grew into a big, bouncy, affectionate and wonderfully mischievous dog who loves people, fuss, games and exploring the world.
Copper has been attending Charlie's Dog Training in Soham since he was a tiny puppy and enjoys scent work, hoops, gundog retrieves and agility.
He's still learning — and his enthusiasm sometimes gets the better of him — but he is learning to become more balanced and settled while retaining his naturally joyful personality.
Copper already has experience visiting people in their homes and has begun accompanying Jasper to a global pharmaceutical company, where he is gaining experience in his future role as a therapy dog.
Copper is rather different from Jasper: younger, more playful and exuberant, with a big personality and lots of enthusiasm.
For some children, that playful energy can be just as valuable as Jasper's calm presence.
How could they help at Waymakers?
Sharon, Jasper or Copper can potentially be involved in a Waymakers session as an additional, optional support, particularly where a child or young person:
feels anxious about attending
needs help settling into a new environment
finds unfamiliar people or situations overwhelming
finds animals easier to connect with than people
benefits from a calming presence nearby
needs a gentle focus while becoming comfortable
is working on confidence or participation
enjoys animals and finds their presence reassuring
The dogs can be involved in different ways. A young person might choose to stroke or interact with a dog, take part in a simple activity with them, or simply have the dog nearby.
There is no requirement to interact with the dog.
Choice and consent remain central.
Support that follows the young person
The aim isn't to use a dog to make someone do something they don't want to do.
Instead, the dog can become a bridge — something familiar and non-judgemental that helps a young person feel more comfortable, creates an opportunity for connection, or simply makes an unfamiliar environment feel a little safer.
Sometimes the best support is a dog quietly lying beside you.
Sometimes it's throwing a ball.
Sometimes it's talking to someone while stroking very soft ears.
And sometimes it's just knowing that Jasper or Copper is there.
In-session support
It may be possible to arrange for Sharon and one of her therapy dogs to join a Waymakers session where this additional support would be helpful.
There is a small additional fee for this service.
Please ask about this when booking so that we can discuss what might work best for your child and arrange it with Sharon in advance.
One-to-one support
If a young person would benefit from more individualised support, Sharon can also be engaged privately for one-to-one work. Depending on the individual's needs, this could involve CBT, mindfulness-based approaches and/or Animal Assisted Therapy. This is separate from Waymakers sessions and can provide a more individual therapeutic setting where appropriate.
