Village catch-UP – Winter 2020
December 15, 2020
Virtually Together
March 31, 2021Help us to help Shira and her friends
Shira is sitting in a small wire enclosure at Talpiot Youth Village, the wind and rain coming through the roof. Shira was used to being cold and wet. Her father would sometimes make her sleep on the balcony to punish her, which Shira preferred to being beaten.
“The bunny looks sad today” Shira told the therapist.
“Do you know why she’s sad?” she asks.
“Her daddy kicked her again and it hurts” whispered Shira.
This was the moment the therapist had been hoping for. Shira had not been able to talk about the abuse she had endured until now. With the help of the trained animal therapist, it will be through the rabbit that she will be able to tell her story and process her trauma.
Animal Assisted Therapy at Talpiot Youth Village
Talpiot Youth Village is home to our most traumatised children. From the age of 5, they have been removed from unsafe homes due to unimaginable abuse, extreme poverty, or severe neglect. Talpiot offers a safe and loving home whilst supporting the children in their recovery.
Animal Assisted Therapy has proven to be a highly effective treatment for abused and traumatised children and has been used at Talpiot for over 12 years.
But the facilities are now dilapidated and will soon become unusable.
Without immediate action, the Animal Assisted Therapy Programme runs the risk of being closed down.
Let’s step up for the children of Talpiot and build them the Animal Assisted Therapy Centre that they so desperately need.
With your help, we will be able to build a new facility with warm and inviting therapy rooms, sanitary enclosures for animals and areas for the children to grow food to feed the animals.
This will allow Talpiot to double the number of children treated, giving more children a chance to heal from their trauma and live the lives they deserve.