About Us
In Australia, 1.1 million people experience social isolation or exclusion. At RSPCA alone, over 124,000 animals are waiting for adoption every year.
Born to address these pressing social issues, Happy Paws Happy Hearts (HPHH) is a national organisation that offers in-shelter and online programs, purposefully designed to connect socially isolated people and animals.
Working hand in hand with RSPCA and other animal and wildlife rescue shelters, Happy Paws Happy Hearts provides a safe space and community for vulnerable people to come together and share a mutual love of animals, while learning new skills and giving back in a meaningful way.
Our unique approach takes participants out of the training room and into shelters and wildlife sanctuaries, ensuring that participants have the necessary support, environment, and “hands-on” opportunity to do their best development and learning.
Our History
Co-founded in 2014 by Zoe and Grame, Happy Paws Happy Hearts was born when they had the idea to take their foster dogs to visit socially isolated family members. From their first visit, they saw instant connections form. It was clear that these interactions between people and animals brought smiles to faces and wags to tails.
Since then, Happy Paws Happy Hearts has flourished and continues to expand nationwide, crafting programs that rehabilitate animals and people across Australia. With the support of our amazing partners, we are reaching more socially isolated people and providing much-needed human interaction for rescue animals, helping to prepare them for life after adoption. Happy Paws Happy Hearts is a social enterprise, a National Registered Charity and a Public Benevolent Institution.
Our Mission
The Happy Paws Happy Hearts mission is to bring socially isolated people and rescue animals together to care for and train rescue animals. Our unique twist on “animal therapy” is that we deliver this training at local rescue shelters and wildlife sanctuaries around Australia.
Committing to and succeeding in our programs provides a pathway for participants to overcome physical and emotional isolation. It's a return-to-life approach that rebuilds confidence in stages, often resulting in a new outlook on life.
Happy Paws Happy Hearts developed a Theory of Change that underpins the ethos and actions of our organisation. Everything we do is purposeful and focused on the best possible outcomes for our participants.
Our Impact
Through our programs, participants experience outcomes and improvements in social interactions and skills, communication and language development, everyday life skills, responsibility and community, fine and gross motor skills, and task modelling and completion. Committing to and succeeding in our programs provides a pathway for participants to overcome physical and emotional isolation, resulting in reduced risk of mental health issues and anxiety around other people, higher levels of physical and emotional wellbeing, greater confidence to learn new things, and better employment and return-to-life prospects.
Everything we do is purposeful and focused on the best possible outcomes for our participants - human and animal alike.
A snapshot of areas of improvement for our participants:
Social interactions and skills
Communication and language development
Everyday life skills
Responsibility and community
Fine and gross motor skills
Task modelling and completion
Psychological wellbeing - reduced risk of mental health issues and anxiety around other people
Higher levels of physical/emotional wellbeing
Greater confidence to learn new things
Better employment and return to life prospects
Our next programs are starting soon.
“I’m always excited for Mondays now because of HPHH. I have come so far since starting and have developed so much as a person. HPHH is one of the most enjoyable parts of my life.”
— Sarah, participant
"I feel part of a community that I can care for, who also cares for me. I developed a strong bond with the rescue animals through our past trauma which helped us both heal."
— Tom, a graduate of the HPHH Intensive program