When life gets you down, try petting a donkey — at least, that is one of the prescriptions at the Ville-Evrard hospital complex east of Paris.
Tucked within its grounds, among 19th-century farm buildings and woodland, five donkeys are doing some of the mental health heavy lifting between hay-munching breaks.
The hospital's donkey therapy unit, unique to France, has been running since 2016 when Ermelinda Hadey, a psychiatric nurse, and her husband François launched the programme on the hunch that donkeys, known for their calm and social nature, might connect with patients in ways conventional treatment cannot always reach.
'Animal medicine'
On Friday, patients led the donkeys — named Nono, Pitou, Oscar, Manolo and Malraux — through the grounds, cleaned their hooves and, at the session's end, hugged them. Each patient is paired with a regular companion over time as familiarity, it turns out, works both ways.
