UK's Dogs for Health helps combat depression

DW (English)

Loneliness causes social stress, depression and inflammation in the body. To combat this, doctors in the small British town of Frome are successfully prescribing activities with other people and also with animals. The idea has found many fans.

Transcript

00:00Nobody should be left alone here.

00:03In the small town of Froome and Somerset in the southwest of England,

00:07community is a priority. Anyone who is lonely or unwell

00:12can get help from volunteers like James Lewis and Amy Wood.

00:16They founded the organization Dogs for Health.

00:19In the park they meet up with Denny Perry.

00:24Together with their Spaniards, Molly and Clover,

00:27they help people with mental health problems.

00:32There's a huge sense of satisfaction in doing it.

00:35There is so much social isolation in this country that we don't tackle.

00:39And when we try and tackle it just using one-to-one conversation,

00:44quite often there's a struggle.

00:46Doing it the way we do it with the dogs,

00:48it means that the person feels more comfortable.

00:50They don't have to talk to me, they can talk to my dog.

00:53James Lewis used to be in the military.

00:55Now he works as a truck driver.

00:57He's been looking after Denny Perry for two years.

01:00Perry was also a soldier.

01:02After his discharge from military service,

01:05he fell into a deep hole and had to be admitted to a psychiatric hospital

01:09because of post-traumatic stress disorder.

01:12The walks help him a lot.

01:14He hopes to soon be able to do without medication altogether.

01:18Being out and about, being in the fresh air,

01:21being able to talk to James, it's like I've known him for years.

01:24It's fantastic.

01:26And the dogs, at the end of the walk, they all want to cuddle as well,

01:32which is an amazing feeling.

01:35Dogs for Health is not the only initiative in Froome

01:38that provides personal support.

01:40Because many men find it difficult to talk about their feelings,

01:44there is also the so-called men's shed.

01:47In the woodwork shop, they can do woodwork side by side

01:51or just come by for a chat, like John Caulfield.

01:56After his retirement, the former engineer suffered from depression.

02:01It's relaxed. It's where you can share things if you want to

02:05and get some quite constructive and helpful feedback

02:09and response from people who are perhaps in a similar situation.

02:13Because, as you know, for men,

02:15we find it difficult to talk more about ourselves personally.

02:19But if you're amongst a group of men, it seems to be a little bit easier.

02:24The men's shed in Froome is now more than 10 years old,

02:27and it's no longer just a men's shed.

02:30Anyone can take part for a donation.

02:33Those who have no money pay less or nothing at all.

02:37Everyone who runs courses is a volunteer.

02:41A lot of people here find it a pen in the ship, and I do for a start,

02:45because I'm relatively new to Froome.

02:48And I've made good friends here. There's a lot.

02:51And my husband, too, because he comes to the men's shed

02:54and helps with the women's shed when they're doing woodwork or something like that.

02:58Patrick Abrahams founded the men's shed in Froome.

03:01There are now around 1,000 initiatives like this in the United Kingdom,

03:05and the number is growing.

03:09It's a desperate need.

03:10And some of the areas that we don't work well enough with

03:13is younger people and ethnic minorities.

03:16In Froome, there is a young person's shed that meets on a Wednesday evening.

03:20But increasingly, young people are suffering from the same things

03:24that everyone else is, in terms of mental health,

03:27in terms of anxiety and depression.

03:30More and more Britons are seeking help for mental health problems,

03:33and young people in particular often have to wait months for an appointment.

03:37The Froome Medical Centre coordinates everything with a focus on prevention.

03:42GP Helen Kingston says that many problems arise because patients are lonely.

03:47She's well connected with social care services,

03:50as well as with voluntary organisations such as the men's shed.

03:54Since the new initiative was founded, hospital emergency admissions fell by around 14%.

04:03Sometimes, if you can recognise when people are struggling

04:07and put in some simple measures that can turn that situation around

04:12from becoming a crisis to being something that people are managing day to day.

04:19In Denny Perry's case, his hospital team had put him in touch with Patrick and Dogs for Health,

04:24with success.

04:28I have now got to the stage where I feel confident that I'm in a much better place,

04:33and I've spoken to James at length about helping the charity out.

04:38I'd like to put back now what I have gained out of it,

04:41and put back to anybody else that needs it as well.

04:45And people need help everywhere.

04:47Patrick is looking to start the Dogs for Health initiatives in the Philippines,

04:51and Danny wants to help him.

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