How HPHH helps young person with their mental health

Ashleigh T was going through a difficult time in their life in 2022. Struggling to balance school with their mental health challenges, they decided they needed to branch out and find something to look forward to each week.

Ashleigh adores cats, so joining Happy Paws Happy Hearts was a great fit for them. They could leave school early on Wednesdays to attend their weekly sessions.

When they joined Happy Paws Happy Hearts, they were quite shy. Over a year later, they have become friends with their fellow participants and look forward to hanging out with them each week.

“I’ve made really good friendships with the people in my group,” Ashleigh says.

Their favourite part of Happy Paws Happy Hearts is seeing all the animals, playing with and petting them. While their favourite animal might be a cat, we often see some scaly and feathered friends in our sessions at Happy Paws Happy Hearts. Ashleigh is proud of staying in the room for ‘Wildlife Week’ - when our trainers brought in snakes, lizards and all kinds of reptiles – even though they were scared. These scaly creatures are a phobia of Ashleigh's and they challenged themselves to face this fear head on and succeeded.

Attending Happy Paws Happy Hearts makes Ashleigh excited each week. They love seeing their friends and meeting different trainers and, of course, different animals each week.

They feel they have changed as a person. Their mental health has improved because Happy Paws Happy Hearts is a ‘calmer environment’.

“It’s a calming environment. You get to play with different animals, and it’s good for (my) mental health and wellbeing,” Ashleigh says.

Ashleigh started dating their girlfriend last year. A budding singer-songwriter, they wrote a song dedicated to her and expressing their sexuality after coming out recently.

“I started dating this girl last year. I wrote a song about her. I also came out last year. There’s this artist called Dove Cameron, who wrote a song called ‘Boyfriend’ and she came out last year. That really inspired me to come out myself and write my own song that represents my sexuality,” Ashleigh says.

Ashleigh played their song – To My Queen (Girlfriend) – to her session. While they were nervous yet excited, everyone loves their song and are very proud of them for sharing.

You can listen to Ashleigh T’s song here.