Dog Therapy
Innovative learning in action
The therapy dogs move between the Junior & Senior School classes and have had a positive impact on the jarjums and their learning.
When a jarjum has been emotional or upset (like some of our Preps were on their first day of school), the presence of the dogs assisted to reduce their anxiety and their tears quickly disappeared!
Hymba Yumba also provides a Dog Training Program specifically for Senior School jarjums. This program teaches the jarjums everything about a dog from birth through to all of their important learning phases. Jarjums get hands on experience training and handling these dogs and gain an understanding of the training that occurs for the dogs to be successful in their jobs as therapy, assistance or family dogs.
The Senior jarjums now also have the opportunity to complete a Certificate II in Animal Studies creating career and pathway opportunities. This partnership with Empower Assistance Dogs has been life-changing for so many jarjums and extremely impactful for the Indigenous community of Hymba Yumba Independent School.
The Hymba Yumba family has grown! We now have three Therapy Dogs within the school: Akuna, Hershey and Kirra.