Engage
A behaviour-assessed companion dog helps lower the pressure and creates a reason to take the first step.
Est. flagship intervention · 100+ schools
Trust doesn't start
with a worksheet.
It starts with Baxter.
Practical. Relational. Evidence-informed. The Baxter Project helps children who may not respond to traditional support begin to trust, communicate, regulate and re-engage—alongside a carefully assessed companion dog.
THE PURPOSE
Reach the child before the problem becomes the story.
The Baxter Project creates a safe route into support for pupils facing trauma, anxiety, bereavement, neurodiversity, school avoidance and barriers to learning.
Understand
Skilled practitioners use relationship-led, trauma-informed work to understand what sits beneath behaviour.
Re-engage
One-to-one sessions build regulation, communication and achievable routes back into learning and relationships.
Who we work with
Children who may not respond
to traditional support.
We work with children experiencing anxiety, adversity, bereavement, neurodiversity, school avoidance, exclusion risk and wider social, emotional and mental health needs. Our approach is practical and relational — it helps children begin to trust, communicate, regulate and re-engage.
Anxiety
Bereavement
Neurodiversity
School avoidance
Exclusion risk
SEMH needs
Our approach
Trust. Communicate.
Regulate. Re-engage.
Grounded in the Skuse and Matthews Trauma Recovery Model, every session is built around the same progression — met with patience, skill and trust.
01
Trust
The companion dog gives children a non-judgemental presence to build safety and trust before anything else is asked of them.
02
Communicate
Once safety is established, children begin to find language — verbal or otherwise — for what they are experiencing.
03
Regulate
Practitioners support children to recognise and manage their emotional and physiological state in the moment.
04
Re-engage
With trust and regulation established, children are supported back into classroom life and peer relationships.
05
Evidence-informed
Every element of delivery is grounded in the Trauma Recovery Model, developed with academic partnership.
06
School-embedded
Delivered in partnership with over 100 schools, working alongside existing pastoral and SEND provision.
Next step
Bring trusted early intervention into your school.
Talk to TAG about referrals, delivery capacity, safeguarding and what a Baxter Project cohort could look like in your setting.