In Wolverhampton figures show that, nearly 4000 children & over 21,000 adults are affected by stress, anxiety & severe mental health. Animal Assisted Therapy research shows that it can be a solution for improving mental health and wellbeing, this is where we come in, but we need your help! Our Community Aquarium and Sensory play classroom can help combat these problems, our project will benefit children and adults that live with: - Autism - Alzheimers - Stress & Anxiety - Depression - Loneliness - Sensory Disabilities (visual impairment). Our Classroom will involve new technology which will help all children learn and play. We are working towards building an aquarium with advanced technology to ensure inclusivity for all people. We envisage using several methods for communication, for example, Sign-Language, to be able to communicate information on the different animals and their environments. We also want to build interactive information boards for people to navigate themselves.

What we'll deliver:

• A Sensory Aquarium with 100 tanks
• A Sensory Play classroom (seperate from Aquarium)
• Run Classes for Children with disabilities to learn about Animal wefare
• Deliver Animal related Therapy sessions
• An interactive experience for all children

Why it's a great idea:

It will help the local community come together. Our inclusive facility will be open to all as children, young people and adults are brought together. Our sensory play workshops encourages the use of five senses: sight, sound, smell, taste and touch. This develops children creatively, socially and emotionally through simply playing. This, along with Animal Assisted Therapy leads to happier and mentally healthier children and adults. Our unique project is available to everyone and can expand across the city. Experiencing and playing will be provide our visitors with a safe haven to learn about animals, animal care and the environment. We already have a space for the development of a new aquarium and sensory activity centre (see pictures), however, we need your help in being able to bring these projects to their final stages of development. The aquarium and sensory centre will be open 7 days a week to the local community, families, schools and colleges.

Steps to get it done:

• Designing the classroom/sensory room and Aquarium
• Ordering the relevant materials
• Beginning the building plans for the classroom/sensory room and Aquarium
• Installing the fish tanks
• Fill the Aquarium with the livestock
• Decorate/furnish the classroom including sensory furnishings
• Ordering the learning materials
• Completed!

Who are we? 'HugglePets in the Community' are a Community Interest Company looking to help support people combat loneliness and help to improve their own mental health, we officially launched in January 2019 but, prior to this we have been working on various community initiatives since the start of 2018, we are passionate about bringing people in the local area together. Helping People into Employment and Work Experience We will also be offering Work Experience and Apprenticeship opportunities as we develop and grow the project, this will help with people in the local community looking to be involved in careers with animals, children and/or education. Huggles Pamper Lounge We have also launched our Huggles Pamper Lounge, where you can visit us with your furry friend and purchase a service to have your pets (dogs mainly) groomed, all of the money raised from the Pamper Lounge will be re-invested into the project to help the sustainability of the project going forward.