The history of canine therapy ireland clg
Our Journey
Founded in 2021 by Lou NÍBhroin and Amy Deacon in North Kildare, Canine Therapy Ireland CLG was established to provide psychiatric assistance dogs for individuals living with mental health challenges and co-occurring conditions. Our dogs support people in mitigating their everyday lives, these supports include but are not limited to : medication reminders, interruptions to self-injurious behaviours, creating structure, reducing feelings of isolation, recognising triggers and intervening ahead of distress, providing emotional regulation comfort and safety, navigating crowded or stressful environments, offering a narrative to enhance interpersonal skills.
Individuals learn to use their dogs as part of their management strategies for their mental health, which has had a huge benefit in furthering independence.
As a disability-led organisation, our original focus was supporting neurodivergent adults and individuals engaging with mental health services. Through extensive community consultation, surveys, and collaboration with international colleagues, owner trainers, carers, educators, support groups, and healthcare professionals, we identified a significant unmet need for psychiatric assistance dogs and canine-assisted supports in Ireland.
Lou NíBhroin furthered her education within this field and as of 2023 represents Ireland with the highest international accreditation of ethical service dog coaching.
Working alongside ethical canine professionals, neurodivergent adults, trauma-informed services, and mental health professionals, we have developed programmes that help individuals build meaningful partnerships with highly trained dogs.
Working together is the key to change, with challenges posed by varying funding and resources available within the current climate, co-creation is a must, the services we provide can be flexible and adaptable, allowing for opportunities for our dogs to bring a consistency to services and in-turn predictability for service users.
Animal welfare remains at the centre of everything we do. Ongoing research highlighted that the demand for assistance dogs in Ireland greatly exceeds the available supply, and that attempts to rapidly increase numbers can negatively impact canine welfare, health, and long-term suitability. In response, we developed programmes that place carefully selected dogs within services and therapeutic settings, allowing us to support more people while prioritising ethical training, sustainable practices, and the wellbeing of every dog involved.