Our enrichment programme & holistic treatments offered at the sanctuary
We are always looking for ways to make sanctuary life better for our residents and are lucky to have our own visiting holistic therapist.
Helen Baker from Reiki & Herb has been volunteering with us for the last 6 years and has treated over 700 of our animals here at the sanctuary.
Helen specialises in Applied Zoopharmacognosy, which is the study of how animals self-medicate by foraging for plants and minerals to maintain health, manage stress, or to treat, or prevent disease.
As you can imagine many of our residents come to us feeling scared, lost and abandoned and with the help of Essential Oils, Herbs and Aromatic Sprays, Helen can help them to feel safe and secure in their new environment.
In 2021 Helen introduced an enrichment programme at the sanctuary, making sure that every animal had access to calming remedies on arrival. One of the major herbs for reducing stress in animals is Valerian, which can immediately bring down the animals’ fight or flight response and help them to feel safe, and they now have access to this wonderful herb in their enclosure on arrival, coupled with an array of essential aromatics like rose and violet, both of which will help to steady the newcomer’s nervous system.
Helen is also an intuitive Reiki therapist and uses animal communication to help individual animals if they are struggling, alongside Applied Zoopharmacognosy. Often a mixture of multiple therapies is called for to enable her to offer what’s best for the animal.
Over the years Helen has been able to offer an insight into many of our animals’ silent problems, be it pain, stress, bereavement or even parasites, and has been able to help so many animals get back to normality and ready for adoption. She has also been teaching staff how to administer ongoing treatments and has been helping them to understand and use this wonderful method independently.
Once adopted our new owners are offered further support if needed and can take Helen’s bespoke remedies home with them to help with the settling in process.
Helping the animals at the sanctuary and supporting the staff and volunteers is Helen’s biggest passion, she is also a volunteer fundraiser and offers free intuitive Reiki treatments to our staff and volunteers to help them navigate what can be a challenging work environment.
If you would like to purchase any calming products to help your own animals, they can be picked up from the sanctuary, or from Helen’s website www.reikiandherb.com Every purchase helps to raise funds for the ongoing enrichment programme.
In addition to the holistic treatments offered by Helen, we are also lucky to have Helena from Fir Tree Canine Massage visit regularly. Clinical canine massage works by releasing tight, sore muscles and removing knots or trigger points that cause pain. Many of our dogs benefit from this one-to-one treatment, some because of specific musculoskeletal issues and some just love the relaxing effects if they are feeling anxious in the kennel environment.
