Professional AAI for every setting
All KITH services are delivered through assessed handler-animal partnerships, underpinned by a clinical framework that meets the governance requirements of NHS and educational commissioners. Every session begins with a pre-session risk assessment. Every animal is welfare-checked before the learner arrives. Every handler works within a documented competency structure.
We are insured and ready to assess venues and community needs. Dogs and a couple of ponies are available for suitable visits, subject to individual needs, venue risk assessment, and animal welfare.
Therapeutic AAI for SEND
Our SEND programme delivers structured, goal-directed animal-assisted intervention for children and young people with a wide range of special educational needs and disabilities. Sessions are planned to individual referral goals, not delivered as a generic experience.
Our clinical framework covers eight SEND presentation profiles: autism spectrum condition, ADHD, learning disabilities, complex needs and PMLD, social communication difficulties, sensory processing differences, anxiety and emotional dysregulation, and trauma and attachment difficulties. Each profile has specific requirements for animal interaction, handler competencies, and therapeutic approach. Provision may include assessed dogs and, where individually assessed as appropriate, small pony visits.
What this looks like in practice:
- •Individual or small group sessions in your setting
- •Pre-programme goal-setting with referrer and key worker
- •Outcome measurement across the programme using agreed tools
- •Full pre-session risk assessment for every session, on the day
- •Written programme summary available to referrer
- •Required DBS, safeguarding, competency, and insurance checks confirmed before delivery
Funding routes: SEND budget, pupil premium, pastoral funds, direct commissioning, or grant-funded places for those who cannot pay.
AAI that meets NHS governance standards
KITH is structured to meet the clinical governance requirements of NHS and healthcare commissioners. We deliver AAI programmes for NHS trusts and healthcare providers, including ward-based sessions, outpatient wellbeing programmes, and staff wellbeing initiatives.
Our full documentation suite (risk assessment tool, animal welfare protocols, handler competency framework, and SEND clinical AAI framework) is available as part of any procurement conversation. We are happy to discuss bespoke programme design for specific clinical contexts.
Before healthcare delivery begins, the relevant insurance, safeguarding, risk, handler, and animal-welfare requirements will be confirmed with the commissioning organisation. Each animal will be assessed against the equipment, sounds, movement patterns, and welfare demands of the setting. Equine visits will be considered only where the animal, learner, venue, and full risk assessment confirm they are appropriate.
AAI for those who need it most
KITH delivers animal-assisted intervention for community organisations, charities, and voluntary sector referrers working with adults and young people facing disadvantage, marginalisation, or social exclusion. This includes vocational pathway programmes in animal care and welfare for adults facing barriers to employment, delivered in partnership with charities and community organisations.
Grant-funded places are available for individuals who cannot access paid provision. If you are a referrer working with people who would benefit from AAI but could not afford it, contact us. That is precisely why KITH exists as a community interest company.
Animal-assisted wellbeing for organisations
KITH delivers animal-assisted wellbeing programmes for organisations, providing evidence-based stress reduction, team engagement, and mindfulness experiences. These are professionally delivered to the same clinical standard as our therapeutic work. They are not a novelty event.
Every corporate session booked with KITH directly funds subsidised provision for SEND learners and marginalised community members. When your organisation invests in a KITH wellbeing day, that income is asset-locked for community benefit. Your team gets a genuinely restorative experience. The community gets funded access to therapeutic AAI. Both things are true at once.
Available as half-day events, full-day events, or regular monthly wellbeing programmes.
Our approach to animal welfare
Every contact behaviour used in KITH sessions is carefully selected and formally assessed, chosen for its therapeutic value and its suitability for the people we work with. Our dogs and small ponies are prepared to offer calm, gentle, predictable interaction appropriate to their species. Nothing is left to chance or assumption.
If an animal is not at working baseline on the day of a session, the session does not happen. That decision sits with the handler and the PDL, and it is never overridden. Not by a commissioner, not by a session plan, not by operational pressure. The animal's welfare and the learner's safety are the same decision.
Want to discuss a programme?
We welcome conversations before formal referrals. Get in touch to discuss whether KITH is the right fit for your setting.
Make a referral