The dolphins used to treat PTSD in Ukrainian soldiers
by Maeve Shearlaw in Odessa from Environment | The Guardian on (#21T0K)
Trainers in Odessa say sessions can help veterans, as well as children with learning difficulties, but there are concerns about the animals' welfare
Ivan Golubev was a hyperactive child until his school in the Donbass region of eastern Ukraine was attacked by gunfire. The trauma left him unable to to speak.
A few months later he was on holiday in Odessa and his mother, Anna, decided to try dolphin therapy. "By the end of the first session he started talking again, and I just couldn't stop crying," she says, as her son splashes round in the pool as part of his follow-up treatment.
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