What does Paw Pause provide?
Paw Pause is a unique animal-assisted therapy provider in South Australia. Our handlers are registered Allied Health Practitioners with experience in Psychology and Counselling. Our dogs are all qualified Therapy Dogs. We specialise in providing support in schools – we are privileged to work alongside teachers so that students are able to remain calm and engaged in the classroom.
How do schools engage the services of Paw Pause?
Parents, caregivers and school staff fill out the form on our contact page.
Who pays for Paw Pause services and supports?
Schools can pay directly for a Paw Pause team to work with a small group of students or the entire school community. NDIS participants can use their funding to work with Paw Pause – we can work with participants who are self-managed and plan-managed who have Capacity Building funding in their plan.
How long are Paw Pause sessions?
Paw Pause support sessions are 3 hours in length. This is the optimal time to build relationships and allow students to interact and settle in for learning alongside the Paw Pause dog-and-handler team.
How can I work for Paw Pause?
Paw Pause is always looking for qualified Psychologists, Provisional Psychologists, Psychotherapists, Social Workers, Counsellors, Developmental Educators or Occupational Therapists with an interest in Animal Assisted Therapy. Please contact us for more information.
Our school already has a wellbeing/school dog. Can Paw Pause work at our school?
Paw Pause dogs are trained therapy dogs, which are vastly different to your everyday wellbeing dog. The Paw Pause difference is the combination of the allied-health professional as a handler, delivering supports, using their highly-trained therapy dog as part of the process.
When a Paw Pause team is contracted to work with an individual student, our focus is entirely on that student and their goals and outcomes, so we are very specific and intentional in our work. Wellbeing and school dogs are there for the entire student cohort.
We work in partnership in schools to get the best outcomes for our clients.
