Dog Therapy organised by our Trainee Pharmacists 21 April 2023
For Stress Awareness month, our Trainee Pharmacists organised for a Therapy dog, Milo, to meet and greet Pharmacy Staff. The event was held in the Pharmacy Training Room on Friday 21 April 2023 at 9.30am to 10.30am.
A lot of staff came along to the event. There were some dog-lovers s, so didn’t need much persuading. Others were doubtful; “I am not a dog-lover”, “I am not sure about this”, “I don’t like animals that much”, “I am too busy!”, but they participated nonetheless.
Everyone who met Milo was positively affected, with many declaring that the session was exactly the tonic they needed.
Our trainee pharmacists, Teegan Pritchard, Tammy Speare, Stephanie Chan, Razan Sawalha and Andrea Losbanes are required as part of their training year to demonstrate and implement other interventions other than medication that can contribute to a person’s health and well-being. Trainees are required to demonstrate evidence for proactively participating in the promotion and protection of public health. Raising awareness of what stress is and how one can manage stress is one of the few health promotion activities that the trainees have undertaken in this training year.
The trainees reminded and sign-posted pharmacy staff to the following resources:
- Follow Milo's adventures on Facebook: Milo the therapy dog
- Time 2 Connect session – Final T2C Postcard (plymouth.nhs.uk)
- Reflective practice – undertaken by Sacha Pearce, Chaplain from the Trust’s Pastoral and Spiritual Care Team on 01752 245255 (or internal 55255) /email: derriford.chaplaincy@nhs.net
- The South West Leadership Academy presents a series of Mindfulness episodes to support health and wellbeing, available to everyone to watch at any time. Click here to watch the videos
- The UHP Support Hub, wide range of psychological support, such as information on how to access OH&WB single session therapy counselling https://www.plymouthhospitals.nhs.uk/need-to-talk.
- Employee Assistance Provision (EAP), 24/7, 365 days a year confidential helpline for help and support with pressures at work or home - call 03303 800658 /visit: vivup.co.uk – flyer attached you can print off.
Here are some of the photos that were captured during Milo’s visit to Pharmacy:
