March 2023

My daughter who is 18 years old and was recently diagnosed with OCD, autism and ADHD saw Frank and Sarah for 12 sessions.  She had struggled to engage with therapy before but was fully committed to these sessions from day one.  Frank is an amazing dog and had such a big impact on my daughter.  Sarah was also brilliant – she worked with my daughter initially on her goals and then gave us a structured report of what she was aiming to achieve and then a weekly written update of how each session had gone.  We’ve never had that in therapy before.  She was also super flexible about me and my husband being in the sessions if that is what our daughter wanted that which had been a barrier to previous attempts at therapy. My daughter is now armed with a various strategies that she can keep drawing on.  We will miss our weekly sessions and would highly recommend both Frank and Sarah.

June 2022

My son attended 6 sessions with Sarah and the wonderful Frank and from start to finish I found Sarah to be extremely professional and knowledgeable.

The sessions with Frank helped my son tremendously and he became a lot more confident in his abilities and with his diagnosis. He always enjoyed attending his weekly sessions and after all 6 sessions he communicated to me that the tools and techniques he was taught helped him control certain situations in order to remain calm. I would strongly recommend anyone considering to participate to definitely do so as the work Frank does and the confidence he gives children is amazing.

May 2021

My son Elias 6 yrs old, who has autism had 12 sessions with Sarah and the amazing hero Frank!

It's very clear how Sarah is dedicated on providing such invaluable support this shined through the 12 weeks. 

I was overjoyed on how Elias took to the sessions. How he grew with confidence and starting using words to describe his feelings. 

The detailed reports are a great insight and has taught us on how we can continue to communicate with Elias and help Elias to strive in life not just survive in life. 

Thank you! 

September 2019

We worked with Frank and Sarah for 6 weeks to help my daughter with her OCD and Bipolar disorder. I Can’t recommend Frank and Sarah enough, they are both awesome and made a big difference to my daughter. The trust my daughter built with Frank was truly amazing, this is down to Sarah who has an amazing passion for ensuring children get the most benefit from the therapy sessions. Thank you so much Sarah and Frank.

March 2019

💯% recommend Sarah’s animal assisted play therapy with Frank. My son Ethan is thoroughly enjoying his sessions so far. Sarah is so kind and patient and Frank is such a gentleman. My son counts down the days every time to each session and is beaming afterwards. Your reports are an absolute joy to read and really highlight the amazing work you do and what you’re achieving in the sessions.
Thank you Sarah and Frank 

Parent

February 2019

He has gained so much from working with [Sarah] and Frank and is managing to express himself and talk about feelings. He could do none of this before he started with Frank

Teaching assistant

January 2019

Pupils have shown a greater awareness of themselves and an ability to have empathy and use communication in a way that they hadn’t previously have done. This was also reported by the parents of those pupils who have worked with Sarah and Frank. Pupils are much calmer and kinder following these sessions and are becoming much more inclusive within friendships often seeking out friendships where they hadn’t previously. The outcome is individualised for each pupil and we have seen these being achieved during the piece of work and are extremely happy with how this is affecting our pupils’ emotional wellbeing.

Family Support Worker

July 2018

Would just like to say thank you for all you have done, you have been working with my son for the last 6 weeks and I am blown away with how much of an impression you and Frank have had on him. Your reports are exceptional and they show the complete understanding that you have. I have seen such an improvement in his happiness and is attention and listening skills have also improved, thank you again x

March 2018

Working with Sarah and Frank has proven to be a revelation in how amazing Animal Assisted Therapy is in supporting, not only our more vulnerable pupils, but others who may be just struggling with certain worries in their life.

Frank has been accepted as part of our school community. Everybody knows who we mean when we mention ‘Frank’….and in some cases, when we are talking about ‘The Amazing Frank’ to people outside of school, they believe him to be a person, because of the affection with which he is spoken about.

Frank and Sarah have touched many lives for us – and their impact extends to the whole family. Take for instance X, a severely autistic pupil, with high end needs. X has a phobia of dogs. Nothing his family does can involve a dog; no play dates, no walks in the forest, even avoiding places where there may even be the possibility of a dog.

But then Frank comes to the rescue! Through Sarah’s excellent ability to understand X and ‘hear’ what he tells her - a sixth sense unearths itself. After only a few sessions, organised around instinctive intuition, X now sits and talks to Frank, touches his fur, plays games with him – and even strokes his nose.

Frank recently wrote to X and told him how proud he was of him, telling him how he was going to miss him over the Easter holiday and recalling ‘the good times’ they have had together.  X was overwhelmed by this letter – and for X, he became quite emotional. X, who is not convinced that he has any friends, now believes that he does. His friend, he says is Frank and to quote ‘How weird is that, my friend is a dog….a dog. My friend is a dog!’

X went to visit a family friend the other day with his parents and sister. They have a dog.

Just as telling, is Y. Y is adopted. Y has never spoken about her past or how she came to be adopted. People only know her story from what her adoptive mum tells us. That is until you introduce her to Frank. From the bottom of her heart, deep emotions that have been put into boxes and locked away, have been shared with Frank. Y’s adoptive mum cried when we were able to tell her that Y had told Frank how lucky she was that her adoptive mummy and daddy really love her and that she feels really safe with them.

I could go on with story after story but suffice to say, Sarah and Frank have impacted on our school in a way that words do not really express. Individually they are both amazing but as a team – well…..they are just awesome!

Sarah Hurwood

Headteacher, Epping Upland C.of E. Primary School

December 2017

May 2017

"My daughter, X aged 12, received 6 sessions of therapy with Frank and Sarah to help her with confidence, self-esteem and anxiety.
I can’t thank you both enough for the positive experience this was for X. She thoroughly enjoyed her time working with Frank and her self-esteem and confidence has grown so much. Sarah was encouraging and supportive of X and Frank is just a most wonderful dog with a great character. Frank and X built a lovely relationship, which was evident to see at each session.
This experience has also given my daughter an ambition to be a vet as she said, “I am really good with dogs so I think I will be a good vet!
I cant recommend Sarah and Frank enough and I will miss their weekly visits
Thank you"