Animal therapy is not an entirely new concept. For various ailments, both mental and physical, animals have often been used to increase the happy hormone in people and reduce depressive thoughts. Usually, though, those animals include baby versions like puppies, kittens, goats, and such. However, one French hospital has been using donkeys for therapy with positive results.
The world of therapy has always had a somewhat wide tent. There is cognitive behavioural therapy, dialectical behaviour therapy, EMDR, talk therapy, art therapy, music therapy, the kind where you sit in a room and stare at a Rothko, and somehow, apparently, something shifts. The evidence base for different therapies varies enormously. Some are rigorously studied.
Some are practised on vibes and the conviction that anything that makes a person feel better cannot be entirely without merit. And somewhere in that spectrum sits animal-assisted therapy, a field that has accumulated serious research interest over the past two decades, and that keeps producing surprises in terms of which animals prove most effective.
The latest surprising development comes from a suburb east of Paris, where a psychiatric hospital has been quietly running what is, according to multiple reports, the only hospital-based donkey therapy programme in France. Donkeys. Five of them. Named Nono, Pitou, Oscar, Manolo, and Malraux.
Helping patients with schizophrenia, depression, and other serious mental health conditions do things that medication alone has struggled to achieve. It sounds like something from a warm French film. The evidence, according to the people involved, suggests it is something considerably more than that.
What Are Therapy Donkeys?
The Ville-Evrard hospital complex sits in Neuilly-sur-Marne, in the eastern suburbs of Paris. It is a large psychiatric facility, and within its grounds, among 19th-century farm buildings and stands of mature woodland, five donkeys have been at work since 2016.
As France 24 reported on June 1, 2026, in its coverage of the programme: “Patients staying in a psychiatric hospital near Paris have been singing the praises of a novel treatment: spending time with therapy donkeys. Experts and patients say caring for the animals, which are known for their calm and social nature, helps improve emotional regulation, communication, social interaction and self-esteem.”
The programme was conceived and launched by Ermelinda Hadey, a nurse who specialises in psychiatry, and her husband, François Hadey.
On May 29, 2026, journalists and photographers from the Associated Press visited the programme to document a session. As ABC News reported: “On Friday, patients took the five donkeys for a walk and cared for them. Some confidently lifted their hooves to remove dirt. Many ended the session with a hug.” Each participant is paired with one of the five named animals, Nono, Pitou, Oscar, Manolo, or Malraux, and over repeated sessions, Euronews noted, “they become familiar with each other’s personalities.”
Nathalie, a 60-year-old patient, speaking about this form of therapy, said, “When you take medication that helps you relax … it’s exactly the same,” and “I’d call it animal medicine. It brings relief. You stop thinking about everything else.”
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Audrey Seffar, a nurse at the animal therapy unit, pointed out how Nathalie saw progress after just a few such sessions. Seffar said, “At first, she wouldn’t get out of the cart (provided for people with physical difficulties). But little by little, with encouragement, she did.”
“The animal serves as a mediator. It’s such an extraordinary one that today she was able to leave the cart and stand beside her donkey.”
Ermelinda started the project due to the benefits of animal therapy, and donkeys, especially, were selected for their calm and social nature. François Hadey, who is responsible for training the donkeys themselves, speaking with EuroNews, said, “A donkey is very intelligent. It understands things very quickly, but you have to explain slowly. Donkeys are calm, serene animals that are generally close to people. Once they’re involved in these interactions, they connect very well with patients. They’re emotional sponges.”
Several of these animals were also adopted from wrong conditions, where they experienced neglect or mistreatment.
Ermelinda Hadey also explained how it works, saying, “We work on feeding the animal, which helps us address the patient’s own eating habits. We work on the animal’s hygiene, and by the mirror effect, we work on the patient’s hygiene as well.”
The mirror logic is what is applied where the act of caring for another living creature works to encourage the patient themselves to take care of themselves.
Hadey did stress, though, that “It does not replace a doctor or a medical prescription, but it can help patients regain confidence and a sense of self-worth.”
Image Credits: Google Images
Sources: ABC, AP News, Euro News
Find the blogger: @chirali_08
This post is tagged under: Donkey, Donkey therapy, Donkey therapy meaning, Donkey therapy paris, paris, paris mental health, mental health, mental health patients, french hospital, mental health care, patient wellbeing, wellbeing, therapy donkeys
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