Hope in the Community takes a One Welfare approach to tackling issues that affect dogs and people in our local communities. That means understanding that animal welfare, human health and wellbeing and our physical and social environments are all interconnected.

So if we want improve our local communities, we need to work together with other organisations to tackle the issues that lead to poor welfare and harm for both dogs and people. 

Committed as we are at Hope in the Community, we are a small team covering a wide area. If we really want to empower local communities to be good, responsible guardians of their dogs, we need to support other organisations to be able to recognise the early signs of poor dog welfare, understand the impact on people and places and to feel confident promoting good dog guardianship through their own work.(Image: BVA 2019.)

We’ve had the privilege to learn from over 40 partner organisations from across the Cwm Taf Morgannwg Region, who are doing really inspirational work to support people with a range of challenges from housing and homelessness, to financial hardship, to family breakdown, to community safety to problems with health and wellbeing.  Here are just some of the organisations we work with.

But we also heard about how many professionals were unaware of the impact issues involving a dog might have on a person, or if they were aware of an issue, they did not know what to suggest or where to turn for help.

To help address this gap, Hope in the Community have been extending support to other community organisations in different ways. We have been invited to present at multiagency partner meetings such as the Merthyr Tydfil Food Prosperity Network and Safer Bridgend Anti-Social Behaviour Partnership, and to organisations such as Boabab Bach Pantries who support over 250 households in Bridgend and Barry.

During these sessions we focus on raising people’s awareness of the benefits of good dog guardianship for animals, people and communities, as well as the harm that be caused when things go wrong. We aim to improve partners ability to spot the signs of poor welfare that can affect dogs and people and their awareness of how Hope the Community and other animal welfare organisations such as Blue Cross, Dog’s Trust, The RSPCA and Pet Food Bank can help. 

We have also benefited from a strong working relationship with the BAVO Community Navigator Team in Bridgend. The Navigator Team works with individuals to identify their needs and then supports them to access community services or activities that they feel are right for them.

Not only have their team attended a number of our outreach events, but we are also working together to support a number of individual clients in a joined up and holistic way that seeks to balance the needs of the human and their dog. A particularly valuable aspect of this working relationship is the way it allows it allows us to share experience, expertise, and challenges. Recently, we organised a ‘Talk and Walk’ session for both teams in Parc Calon Lan Blaengarw, to better facilitate such opportunities for good practice sharing and peer support.

We are also working on an exciting new collaboration with the Purple Sunflower Project, run by the Adjuda Foundation to develop a session on ‘Emotional Assistance Dog Awareness’ for people who are struggling with their wellbeing.

We are delighted that we have already built a network of over 40 partners across Rhondda Cynon Taf, Bridgend, Merthyr Tydfil and the Western Vale of Glamorgan. 100% of organisations we have worked with so far have been satisfied with our support and agree that our programme will help their community members to better look after their dogs and improve human wellbeing.

If you would like to join our growing network of partners or explore how Hope in the Community can support your team or your community, please get in touch at [email protected].