Blyth Star Enterprises team up with Newcastle Dog and Cat Shelter to support mental health through animals

Blyth Star Enterprises, which supports individuals with complex mental health needs and learning disabilities, approached the animal shelter about any potential opportunities to work together.

After learning about Blyth Star’s mission to provide living skills training and enrichment experiences to people with mental health needs and disabilities, the shelter paid a visit to the adult social care day service at The Steamboat, Blyth, to host a meet and greet with some of their animals.

Carol Boyd, day services manager at Blyth Star, commented: “Our service users absolutely adore animals, lots of them have pets of their own at home, so we had been looking to find an organisation who we could partner up with to provide some education and support to our service users on topics like animal care.

"When the opportunity came along to meet with the Newcastle Dog and Cat Shelter, as a fellow charity, it just made perfect sense. It was wonderful to welcome Jack, along with the lovely Lola, one of the dogs from the Shelter, into The Steamboat.

"Everyone was very smitten with Lola and absolutely blown away by the incredible work that the Shelter does to promote animal welfare. We’re hoping to make a reciprocal visit to the Shelter at Benton North Farm very soon.”

As means of saying thank you to Newcastle Dog and Cat Shelter, service users at The Steamboat decided to carry out some fundraising activities.

Through the sale of handmade craft items and by using an ‘honesty box’ to accrue donations for clothing alterations carried out on behalf of service users, in total, the team raised £110 for the shelter.

Jack Brydon, Community Engagement officer at Newcastle Dog and Cat Shelter, added: “It was an absolute pleasure to visit The Steamboat and see first-hand the amazing work Blyth Star Enterprises is doing.

"Our Shelter is 100% reliant on the good will of our community to keep going, and partnerships like this show the true power of community and compassion.”