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Animal-assisted Wellbeing and Engagement Programs: Grant Guidelines

The Victorian Government has committed to provide funding to schools for the implementation and delivery of animal-assisted wellbeing and engagement programs in Victorian government schools to support students.

Overview

Status:
Closed
Who can apply:
Government schools

The Victorian Government has committed to provide funding to schools for the implementation and delivery of animal-assisted wellbeing and engagement programs in Victorian government schools, to support students.

Animal-assisted wellbeing and engagement programs may be used to support:

  • individual student(s) to participate, learn and succeed at school
  • the inclusion of specific cohort(s) of students within the school
  • whole-of-school approaches to student wellbeing and engagement.

From 29 April 2025 schools can apply for a grant for the delivery of an animal-assisted wellbeing and engagement program.

This includes costs associated with implementing a new program, costs incurred in 2025 and 2026 to support delivery of an ongoing program, and professional development for staff in the effective use of animal-assisted wellbeing and engagement programs to support students.

This initiative is available to all Victorian government schools and is a separate and complementary initiative to the Schools Mental Health Fund and Menu. For information on the Schools Mental Health Fund and Menu please visit the Policy and Advisory Library.

These guidelines relate to the 2025 application round, and include information about:

  • who can apply for funding
  • what the funding can and cannot be used for
  • how to apply
  • how your information will be used
  • additional guidance and support available to schools.

Animal-assisted wellbeing and engagement programs

Animals can be incorporated into school communities to support the wellbeing and engagement of students in a variety of ways, including:

  • School support animal – where an animal is trained to work in a school under the care of a trained handler to engage in goal-directed, structured programs to support student wellbeing and engagement.
  • Animal-assisted therapy – where an animal is used by a psychologist, counsellor or social worker in delivering their professional services to help support the psychological needs of students (e.g. canine-assisted therapy, equine-assisted therapy. Animals trained to work alongside qualified health professionals are referred to as therapy animals.)
  • Animal-assisted activities – where students participate in activities involving animals for the purposes of student support or environment enrichment for example, programs where students read to dogs. Activities may involve the engagement of an external organisation.

NOTE: The animal-assisted wellbeing and engagement programs grant does not include:

  • the use of support / therapy animals for school staff
  • assistance animals, which are defined and protected under the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (Cth) and the Equal Opportunity Act 2010(the Act) as animals accredited or trained to assist a person with a disability to alleviate the effect of their disability. This includes guide dogs, seeing eye dogs and dogs to:
    • pick things up for people with mobility disabilities
    • assist people who have seizures.

For more information on assistance animals, see:

Also, see the NDIS Funded Therapy in Schools policy on the department’s PAL page.

There is a range of policies and resources to support schools to deliver high-quality animal-assisted wellbeing and engagement programs to support students. For more information, refer to the Further Support and Guidance section at the end of this page.

Animal-assisted wellbeing and engagement programs grants

This grant initiative provides funds to support schools with the cost of integrating animal-assisted wellbeing and engagement programs into their school. Before applying for a grant, schools should ensure best practice has been followed for designing and implementing an animal-assisted wellbeing and engagement program. Schools should consider factors such as:

  • the need being addressed through the proposed animal-assisted wellbeing and engagement program
  • whether an animal-assisted wellbeing and engagement program is appropriate and, if so, the type of program that is best suited to address that need
  • the outcomes expected from the animal-assisted wellbeing and engagement program
  • the practicalities of implementing and maintaining an animal-assisted wellbeing and engagement program, including the ability to uphold animal welfare standards
  • the type of training and support needed for staff, students, and animal(s) to ensure the animal-assisted wellbeing and engagement program is implemented safely and effectively
  • ensuring any external organisation engaged to help implement the program adheres to principles for best practice including, and not limited to:
    • appropriate training qualifications relating to the use of animals for therapeutic purposes
    • provision of appropriate and ethical services
    • continued staff professional development.
  • how the school will evaluate the effectiveness of the animal-assisted wellbeing and engagement program.

Further information and resources to support schools to plan and deliver high-quality animal-assisted wellbeing and engagement programs can be found below under Further Support and Guidance.

Apply now

  • Grants open

    29 April to 6 June 2025

Guidelines

Updated

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