Hello to everyone that is reading this.

We, The Catalysts (the group behind Project Return), are writing this update to inform the care community of the importance of pet love and why having a pet is really important.

We created a survey was filled in by 54 people, young people, workers/ family members/ carers, organisations and MSPS that’s allowed us to better understand the dynamics and people’s experiences of having a pet in the care system and social housing.

We now have the results of this survey and we wanted to share them with you through our eyes using pet infographics.

We hope you enjoy reading them and if you’re interested in helping us create change in how pets are supported in care then get in touch with Jenny or come along to our change session on the 24th of November from 3.30 until 4.30.

Thank you for your time.

Best Wishes,

The Catalysts

What did we found

Below are the infographics that The Catalysts, the care experienced steering group behind Project Return have created. These show what the different groups who filled in the survey told us about their experienced and the changes that were called for. We have also included our full findings document so if you want to see all the results the survey uncovered then please give it a read.

Pets in Care survey infographic

Pets in Care survey infographic (MSPs and Councillors)

Full results

What happens next

We spoke at a Staf webinar on the 28th of October where we creatively shared our findings and created a collective action plan for moving this work forward and creating the changes people in our survey told us needs to happen so more young people can have pets in care.

Our next steps will be to create a guide for both young people, workers and organisations so they can have honest conversations and be equipped to create action plans to support having pets in care. We will begin our creation journey for this on the 24th of November from 3.30 till 4.30 by co-productively bring voices together monthly.

If you think you have something you can add to this conversation and you’d like to meet others who are passionate about the therapeutic relationship of animals then please get in touch with Jenny, Project Return Development Worker on [email protected].

We can’t wait to create change through empowering those with lived experience and are excited to see what a creative and effective resource we can make for all those who have a role to enabling relationships with pets to be supported in care.