Young people in Surrey who have been out of school for months are reporting reduced anxiety and renewed confidence after taking part in an outreach programme that pairs them with animals as part of a broader therapeutic education offer — a small-scale, community-led model that experts say reflects a growing international evidence base for animal-assisted approaches while also underlining the need for careful design, safeguards and evaluation before wider roll‑out in other countries, including Thailand. The Surrey project, run by therapeutic education provider Elysian and funded through the Surrey All‑Age Mental Health Investment Fund, supports children and teenagers aged 7–19 who have been away from school for three months or more by using “gentle, creative approaches — involving time with animals — to reduce anxiety and build trust,” according to Elysian’s inclusion and outreach lead, quoted in reporting on the programme BBC News. Surrey Heartlands NHS leaders who visited the scheme described observable improvements in young people “overcoming anxiety and getting back into the world” BBC News.
The Surrey programme is part of a targeted, non‑statutory package of community supports created under a £10.5 million countywide Mental Health Investment Fund (MHIF) established by Surrey County Council and Surrey Heartlands Integrated Care Board to back local initiatives. In December 2023, organisers say a three‑year grant of £268,900 was allocated to Elysian’s outreach project to expand animal‑assisted, trauma‑informed and creative work for children and young people who have disengaged from school Surrey County Council MHIF information and local health partnership pages summarise the MHIF’s approach to community‑led mental health services Healthy Surrey / Surrey Heartlands MHIF.
Why this matters to Thai readers: anxiety disorders and school avoidance are international public‑health and educational problems. For children and adolescents, prolonged absence from school worsens social isolation, delays learning and raises the risk of entrenched mental‑health problems. Models that successfully re‑engage young people — especially those that can be delivered by local charities, schools and community groups — offer relatively low‑cost alternatives to hospital or clinic‑centred care and can be tailored to local cultures. The Surrey project highlights a community‑based route to reach young people who fall through traditional service cracks, and its use of animals taps into well‑documented therapeutic mechanisms that have been studied across hospitals, schools and outpatient settings.
What the Surrey initiative delivers and what has been reported so far: Elysian’s outreach sessions use animals within broader therapeutic education activities to lower anxiety, build rapport, and practise social and coping skills in safe, non‑pressured settings. The BBC report quotes Elysian staff and local NHS officials describing individual young people visibly calmer and more ready to rejoin community life following sessions with animals BBC News. The programme is explicitly funded to be non‑statutory and locally tailored, so it complements statutory mental‑health and education services rather than replacing them Surrey County Council MHIF.
What the scientific evidence says: over the past decade a growing number of studies, systematic reviews and hospital‑based evaluations have examined animal‑assisted interventions (AAI) and animal‑assisted therapy (AAT) for children and adolescents. A 2025 systematic review focused specifically on AAT for anxiety reduction in children and adolescents concluded that while the literature is limited, most of the available studies indicate that AAT — almost exclusively dog‑assisted in the papers reviewed — can reduce anxiety levels in young people, especially when sessions are embedded in a therapeutic programme and delivered by trained professionals; nevertheless, the authors warned that many studies are small, heterogeneous and at risk of bias, and that more rigorous trials are needed to confirm lasting effects systematic review, 2025. A separate 2022 systematic review of animal‑assisted interventions in paediatric hospital settings found moderate evidence that dog visits reduce behavioural and self‑reported stress and anxiety around medical procedures, and noted potential benefits for pain, mood and families, but again highlighted methodological variability and the need for better controlled trials and standardised outcome measures Frontiers in Psychology, 2022. Taken together, these reviews suggest that animal presence — especially dogs — can act as a calming, motivational and socially lubricating influence for many children, but that effects are context‑dependent and not universal.
Balanced perspectives: while several controlled trials report statistically significant reductions in state anxiety and observable distress when animals are present, not all studies find clear group‑level benefits, and some show only modest or short‑lived effects. Reasons for mixed results include small sample sizes, brief single visits versus longer programmes, lack of blinded outcome assessment, and diverse control conditions (puzzles, toys, or no intervention). Reviews emphasise that the most promising results come from structured programmes where the animal is incorporated into therapeutic goals, not merely as a novelty or distraction systematic review, 2025; Frontiers review, 2022. Importantly, the literature also stresses animal welfare, handler training, infection control and safeguarding as non‑negotiable programme components.
Safety, governance and quality: as community groups and health services consider AAI, they must adopt clear safety protocols. UK NHS trusts and specialist organisations provide guidance on infection prevention, animal temperament testing, handler training and ward‑level risk assessment for therapy animals — core elements that safeguard both people and animals during visits Royal College of Nursing / Pets as Therapy guidance summary; similar policies exist across NHS trusts to regulate animal visits in clinical settings. The Surrey MHIF’s selection of community partners aims to ensure interventions are delivered by appropriately trained teams with clinical oversight and data collection to monitor outcomes Surrey MHIF overview.
How this connects to Thai culture and services: Thailand has deep traditions of community caregiving and many families form close bonds with companion animals. Buddhist teachings about compassion and the visible role of animals in everyday urban and rural life create cultural affordances for community‑based, animal‑centred programmes. While there are no one‑size‑fits‑all models, Thai schools, child mental‑health services and community organisations could explore pilot AAI projects that adapt the Surrey model’s strengths — outreach to out‑of‑school youth, partnership between educators and mental‑health practitioners, and use of animals to reduce anxiety and re‑build trust — while building in local safeguards. For example, partnerships could be formed between school counselling teams, veterinary services, animal‑welfare NGOs and municipal public‑health units to ensure animal health checks, handler training, infection control and clear referral pathways into statutory mental‑health care where needed.
Related historical and cultural context: the idea that animals can comfort distressed people is far from new — anecdotal and clinical observations go back at least to the 19th century, when pioneering nurses observed calmer behaviour among institutionalised children who had pets; modern reviewers trace these origins while seeking rigorous evidence in contemporary settings systematic review, 2025. In Thailand, longstanding human‑animal relationships and community animal care traditions provide both an opportunity and a responsibility: programmes must respect animal welfare, cultural norms and public‑health standards.
Potential future developments and impacts: if properly designed and evaluated, community‑based AAI could become a valuable component of early‑intervention strategies that help adolescents with school avoidance and anxiety to re‑engage with education and social life. Key ingredients for impact will include stable funding streams, integration with school services and mental‑health pathways, routine outcome measurement using validated anxiety and functioning scales, and longitudinal follow‑up to test whether short‑term reductions in state anxiety translate into sustained school attendance, improved academic outcomes and reduced need for specialist mental‑health care. Conversely, poorly regulated programmes risk inconsistent benefits, animal stress or welfare problems, and infection or allergy concerns — all of which can undermine public confidence.
Practical recommendations for Thai readers — what parents, educators and policymakers can do now: start small, plan carefully and measure results. For parents and community volunteers interested in AAI:
- Talk to your child’s school counsellor or local mental‑health service about any interest in animal‑assisted activities and suggest a pilot that includes clinical oversight and outcome tracking.
- If working with animals, ensure animals are temperament‑tested, vaccinated and examined by a veterinarian; handlers should be trained and insured. UK and hospital guidance documents provide practical checklists that can be adapted locally Pets As Therapy / RCN guidance.
- Prioritise the child’s consent: participation should be voluntary, with alternatives for children who are allergic, fearful or uninterested.
For schools and local health authorities considering pilots:
- Partner with reputable animal‑welfare groups, academic institutions or therapeutic education providers to design a structured programme with clear therapeutic goals, session plans and outcome measures (validated anxiety and functioning scales).
- Build simple infection‑control protocols (hand hygiene before and after contact, exclusion criteria for animals with skin conditions, routine grooming and vet checks) based on existing hospital policies example NHS guidance summaries.
- Ensure training for all staff and handlers on safeguarding, boundaries, and recognising signs of animal stress. Animal welfare must be monitored continually; interventions should never place animals under prolonged stress.
For policymakers and funders:
- Consider small, time‑limited grants to test community AAI pilots embedded within education or child‑mental‑health pathways, with funding contingent on basic governance, data collection and independent evaluation (mixed methods — quantitative outcomes and qualitative interviews). Surrey’s MHIF model shows how local funding can support community innovation while requiring accountability Surrey MHIF overview.
- Support capacity building: training modules for handlers, school staff and mental‑health practitioners; and simple monitoring toolkits to enable comparison across pilots.
Conclusion: the Surrey outreach programme offers an example of how animal‑assisted approaches can be integrated into community mental‑health and education work to reach young people who are anxious, isolated and out of school. The broader research literature — while still limited and methodologically mixed — points to real potential for dog‑assisted interventions to reduce state anxiety and distress in children when delivered as part of structured, professionally led programmes systematic review, 2025; Frontiers review, 2022. For Thai communities keen to innovate in youth mental health, the Surrey model is worth watching and adapting: with careful planning, local partnerships, clear safety rules and an emphasis on evaluation, animal‑assisted outreach could become a culturally resonant tool to help anxious young people reconnect with school and community life.
Sources: BBC News reporting on the Surrey programme (Elysian and Surrey Heartlands) — BBC News article; Surrey County Council / Healthy Surrey pages describing the Mental Health Investment Fund and grants — Surrey MHIF information and Healthy Surrey MHIF summary; systematic review on AAT for anxiety in children and adolescents — Brandão et al., 2025 — PMC full text; systematic review of AAIs in paediatric hospital settings — Frontiers in Psychology, 2022 — Frontiers full text; guidance and practical checklists for animal visits in health settings — Pets As Therapy / Royal College of Nursing summary guidance — Working with Dogs in Health Care Settings (guidance).