People Helping People

Jodie Larsen and Grace Beards spoke about their work with Paws and Pause, a social enterprise doggy daycare center providing opportunities for the unemployed recovering from mental health and addiction. The pair first started working together when running a project for St. Mungo’s, a homelessness organization in London. This is where they first began incorporating dogs in their work, which would lead to launching Paws and Pause in 2019. At St. Mungo’s, Jodies and Grace were able to learn about the stages of transitioning to a more sustained life of people experiencing homelessness. People in the programs expressed a need to return to activities that allow people to have fun and rebuild soft skills. Activities could be a day trip to a theme park or walking park; people only need space to regain confidence in daily life. With this same principle, Paws and Pause allows participants to relearn what it feels like to interact with others and have fun. Grace described it as a “slight sense of normality, a slight