A Cumbrian equine therapy programme has received funding to help it with its work.
The sessions are provided by Brampton-based ChangeWays Through Horses CIC, which specialises in equine assisted therapy, working with the Carlisle-based charity Safety Net, which supports asylum seekers.
The Cumberland made a donation from its Branch Community Fund to a scheme which helps people dealing with trauma by giving them the chance to spend time with horses.
Refugees from Syria, Iran and Sudan recently took part in six equine therapy sessions thanks to cash from the fund.
The fund is administered by The Cumberland’s branch network and is a registered charity which supports community groups and charitable causes in the business’s heartland.
Donations up to £100 are considered and awarded on an individual basis by branch teams, with donations over this amount considered by the fund’s board of trustees.
In the last financial year, The Cumberland Branch Community Fund donated almost £25,000 to community groups and charitable causes to support 165 community groups and charitable causes.
Coral Harrison, founder of ChangeWays and a child and adult psychotherapist, said: “The most important thing about working with people with trauma is to get them into the moment, and concentrate on the experience with the horses.
“They came in with their heads down and then we could see them smiling and really enjoying the moment.
“We couldn’t speak in the same language, but it was amazing how the horses responded to them, they just wanted to be around them.”
Speaking through a translator, one of the participants said: “We saw the horses and brushed them, it was amazing. We remembered the past, but this will pass. I feel better.”
Coral said: “What they needed was peace and calm to remind them that there is a different life after all they had been through. For some, it reconnected them to Syria, the time before the war.
“There was a lot of emotion, it was very moving, it touched the sadness and sorrow about leaving everything behind.”
The sessions, which have been especially designed for people seeking asylum in Cumbria, allow small groups to spend time with horses or ponies, supported by staff and translators.
Coral said: “The help we’ve had through The Cumberland has been a big help to us in putting on sessions like this.”
Other groups which have received funding from the Cumberland Branch Community Fund in the last year include Heartbeat North-West Cardiac Care. The money went towards the cost of cardiac rehabilitation classes for people with heart disease.
Another recipient was Brampton Bus Buddy Scheme, an initiative to support elderly people who would like to get out and about but might be nervous about travelling alone on public transport.
