The Mission of Nepean Therapy Dogs is to provide compassion and comfort for those who may benefit from our highly trained therapeutic dogs to people/families in need.

Nepean Therapy Dogs provides trained therapy dogs and handlers to schools, hospitals, nursing homes, acute emergencies and courts at no charge to the community. We work with people to manage and overcome disabilities.  In most cases the point of a therapy dog is to snap someone out of a negative mindset; to distract them from current problems.

Schools: We help children overcome social anxiety by having them play with, read to or interact with a therapy dog.  Many of the school youth we deal with have or had PTSD and are socially delayed.  The therapy dog helps accelerate social interaction.

Hospitals: We visit most wards using the dogs and volunteers excitement to lift spirits.  Although hospital volunteers visit almost every ward, they target areas they know they are needed: children's, mental health and palliative care (areas where despair is the highest). "Dame Zahli is better for pain management than morphine, and she gives great cuddles."

Nursing Homes: We visit nursing homes biweekly, focussing on lightening the overall mood of residents. "It was such a delight to have you all come to visit our facility today.  We had fun with the beautiful Paula and her fur-babies.  It was such a great experience.  Lifted our spritis."

Acute Emergencies: We do visit and work with victims of crime and people going through medical trauma.  These services vary a great deal.  The volunteers who work in these areas are pre-selected and highly trained for the environment they go into.

Working with people with disabilities: We have clients who visit our centre.  The client's needs can vary from delayed reading, working/training a therapy dog, to overcoming social anxiety. 

Courts: We use our trained therapy dogs assist witnesses to give evidence and deal with being cross examined in a calm and relaxed manner.  Nepean Therapy Dogs provided the first companion animals to assist a young witness give evidence in a District Court matter in New South Wales. A quote from the witness: "They were like my companions that provided me the support to overcome any fear.  The dogs gave me emotional comfort and I felt safe during this experience."

Our board, committee, therapy dog handlers and office staff are made up of unpaid, dedicated volunteers.  As we receive no government funding, we need your help to enable us to continue serving the community free of charge.