The elephants at the Elephant Conservation Centre in Lamphun, Northern Thailand, are part of a unique rehabilitation project being run by Breathing Space, the only rehabilitation facility licensed by the Thai Ministry of Health.
Garrett Tuck, 40, the founder of Breathing Space, himself an ex drug addict, said: “The elephants are in therapy themselves so they can form relationships with the clients and help them.”
The royally approved Elephant Conservation Centre, the only government owned elephant centre, specializes in rescuing badly treated elephants.
The man in charge of mahout training, Khun Daeng, said: “The elephants come from all over Thailand. We rescue them from bad owners who just use the elephants to make money.
“One female elephant was used to drag trees and she was given drugs to make her work. Others were used for illegal logging.”
This is not the first time the centre’s elephants have been used in therapy. They have also been used to help autistic children in The Elephant Assisted Therapy Project (TETP) run by Dr Nuntanee Satiansukpong of Chiang Mai University.
Mr Tuck explained that animal assisted therapy, mainly with horses, has been used worldwide but these two programmes are the only ones to use elephants.
Both programmes have shown promising results.
Breathing Space clients showed a marked improvement after visiting the elephants when tested using the Beck Depression Inventory before and after their visits.
The children taking part in TETP displayed long-term improvements in various areas including sensory skills, posture, balance and coping with day-to-day activities.
In the future Breathing Space and Dr Nuntanee hope to do collaborative research on using elephants in therapy.
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