Abandoned Dogs Help Human Sufferers Overcome Abuse, Grief.

By HANNA SZEKERES   Where the cat purrs, the dog frisks his tail, and the patients come to heal. This is the idea behind Israeli organization HAMA, engaged in animal assisted therapy (AAT,) and their success proves their philosophy – that humans and animals are meant to help and heal each other.

HAMA is short for Humans and Animals in Mutual Assistance, and it is a Government Registered Non-Profit Organization committed to the healing and rehabilitation of people and animals alike through Animal-Assisted Intervention. HAMA does animal-assisted therapy as a complementary therapy to conventional psychological and medical treatments. HAMA is currently working with 30 dogs and 15 cats, most of which are themselves survivors of abuse, neglect, injury or abandonment.

“These cats and dogs, unlike other complementary therapies, like music, are not ‘therapeutic tools.’  They are in the truest sense of the word ‘co-therapists’ in their own right,” said Avshalom Beni, founder and director of HAMA. On HAMA’s website, there is a list of the human staff, the canine staff and the feline staff...'Read here