A quiet trip to a farm each Friday is giving some psychiatric patients near Paris a break from the hospital routine, and they say it helps.
At the Ville-Evrard hospital complex in Neuilly-sur-Marne, patients with psychiatric disorders, anxiety, loneliness and other ailments visit the hospital’s wooded farm sanctuary for therapy sessions with donkeys.
The program’s organisers, patients and hospital staff say it is improving care outcomes. They now want scientific research on the donkey therapy program so it can be standardised and offered more broadly across France.
Patients attend free of charge. Some are pulled in carts by donkeys including Nono, Pitou, Oscar, Manolo and Malraux. Others clean the animals’ hooves or spend quiet time with them.
“Talking with people, taking part in activities I wouldn’t normally do, it helps me in my daily life,” said patient Jérôme, 52.
“It helps you break away from the routine of treatment and medication. Staying at home isn’t good for me.”
Married couple Ermelinda and François Hadey launched the project for Ville-Evrard, and the first donkeys trained by François arrived in 2016.
Ermelinda, a psychiatric therapy nurse, strongly believed in animal therapy. The couple chose donkeys for the program, which has since expanded to include goats, turtles, rabbits, guinea pigs, chickens and doves.
Alicia Fabi, an 18-year-old nursing student, said the sessions give patients a chance to leave the hospital environment.
“Every time we come back from the activity, they say they feel good, calm and relaxed, and that they enjoyed the outing. That’s really positive,” she said.
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