Pet rodents Fidget and Wombat have become star therapists in a program that helps people overcome social anxiety.
Happy Paws, Happy Hearts is a national organisation rehabilitating animals and people.
It works in partnership with the RSPCA, helps animals awaiting adoption become familiar with people — and also gives the humans plenty of interaction too.
"Many of our participants are people with disabilities. A number of them have got mental health challenges and I think those kinds of things can really lead them to a life of isolation," said Carla Canning, chief operating officer at Happy Paws, Happy Hearts.
"We often find people who have led a life of service, once they leave that service, they find it difficult to reconnect to their community and so we have found our programs can help them do that."
'A little bit of magic' can happen
Social anxiety has exploded in recent years, fuelled by movement restrictions to slow the spread of COVID-19.
"I have heard some of our participants say Happy Paws is the only outing they've had from their home," Ms Canning said.
"The participants help the animals get ready for adoption and help improve their stay here at the shelter and in return they get this unconditional love from the animals while they are here."
Bianca Martin, a trainer in Toowoomba, said the program also gave participants purpose.
"One thing that I've noticed, maybe particularly since COVID, is that a lot of participants with their support workers, their primary activity is going on a drive," she said.
"Which is great for people who love doing that, but it kind of seems like a time filler.
"Coming here to Happy Paws, they're getting social interaction, and they're also getting purpose in their day seeing the animals progress."
Rats bring 'smiles to people's faces'
Surprisingly, two domestic rats have proven to be the most successful animals in helping people overcome social anxiety.
"Rats are a lot more social than we actually give them credit for and I've certainly seen the rats really learn to love our people and the people really learn to love our rats as well," Ms Canning said.
Participants can work with cats and dogs, but Ms Canning said rats offered something different to people who were not as familiar or confident with bigger animals.
"I guess the animal selection comes down to how people are feeling on the day. If somebody just wants to sit there and hold something small and soft, or have it run around their body and get that tactile feeling, versus maybe a dog who brings the energy in the room a little bit higher," she said.
"It comes down to what does the group need that day? What's everyone feeling like?
"Especially if you haven't had a lot of experience with animals before.
Ms Martin explained the program resulted in outcomes for both participants and animals.
"We get a lot of support workers who adopt animals, which is always very cute, because they can come back and give updates," she said.
"As for the people, it's pretty common for people to come to their first session feeling a bit overwhelmed.
"Then you can see this amazing change in a few months' time where they start taking on the role of explaining things to the new people.
"I see people who maybe barely speak a few words in their day suddenly get the opportunity to talk about themselves and recognise the value they have in the community."
Mr Martin said the program also helped participants forge friendships.
"We have participants as young as 12, which is our age minimum, up to their 40s and 50s," she said.
"People have all sorts of backgrounds, disabilities, abilities, interests, hobbies.
"It's so interesting, seeing a group come together and I think, 'I can't picture anything in common between anybody here', and suddenly they start talking and you find commonalities."
