Animals promote inclusion and a sense of community

As part of the Special Needs Education/Inclusion degree programme at Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences, students Laura Heinze and Kristin Kestel conducted a ten-month research project in collaboration with Naturschutz-Tierpark Görlitz e.V. and the day center of Initiative Görlitz gGmbH. Under the title “Coming Together, Growing Together, Staying Together—Shaping Life with People and Animals,” the students planned three visits to the zoo for a group of adults with underlying mental health conditions and provided scientific support for these visits under the guidance of Prof. Dr. Martin Goldfriedrich.

“The visitors to the social-therapeutic day center led by Lisa Vater receive support there and share their daily lives with one another. The program on the project days provided a special setting for this sense of community,” the students explain. Direct contact with the animals was the focus of the program and was facilitated by Dr. Franziska Leonhardt using zoo education methods, complemented by shared meals and discussion groups. During walks through the zoo, the group was able to get up close to the alpacas and, above all, “Shrek,” whose sponsorship was funded by the day center. The zoo also provided access to many other animals. For example, they fed zebra mongooses, mucked out stalls, and groomed miniature donkeys. This allowed them to explore the impact animals can have on the interaction between people with mental health conditions.

In this regard, an increase in interaction was observed on various levels. For example, through conversations with and about the animals, engaging in a variety of activities together, supporting one another, and sharing plenty of laughter. These results clearly show that animals can build bridges between people; they make a valuable contribution to human well-being and social interaction. This is also evident from the reactions of the day center participants. They reported great joy during the project days and will surely pay their “shrek” alpaca one or two more visits. In this way, the project finds a way to continue.

At the project presentation at the university, Kristin Kestel and Laura Heinze were delighted by the presence of all the collaborating partners and concluded: “Through this project, we have succeeded in facilitating and shaping inclusion—and thus the social participation of people with disabilities as a key goal of the work of Special Needs Education teachers.”