Our Mission

To invite and nurture our clients’ discovery, healing and growth through respectful and ethical counselling services, parent consulting, professional training and resources, within the context of mutually beneficial relationships and interactions with horses and other animals.

Through relationships and interactions with our animals we invite you to experience the GRACE to be, the SPACE to become and COMPASSION throughout the journey!

Our Vision

A safe, compassionate and nurturing therapeutic environment providing all those we work with – including our clients, their caregivers, our human and animal partners and colleagues – with the context, invitation, rest and support required for insight, healing and growth to arise.

Values and Code of Ethics

Our aim at Healing Hooves is to safeguard and nurture the safety and well being (physical and emotional) of our clients, colleagues and animal partners. Our Code of Ethics reflects our values at Healing Hooves to help us achieve this goal.

Anyone working with Healing Hooves clients and/or animals whether as contractor, employee or volunteer  is required to read and adhere to the following Code of Ethics.

With Regards to Our Clients.

1. We see and appreciate the unique inherent qualities and potential in our clients, not the ‘problems’ or ‘diagnoses’ they may present with. Our goal is to help our clients, and others in our clients’ lives, to do the same.
2. We monitor the progress our clients make towards their goals and make appropriate referrals if and when this is in the best interests of a client;
3. We treat all people as deserving of our respect and compassion regardless of their faith, race, gender, sexual orientation, age, diagnosis, personal history, education level or economic situation. 
4. We seek to find ways to ensure that we do not turn clients away due to a genuine inability to pay for services.
5. We safeguard and prioritise the physical and emotional safety of our clients.
6. We respect and honour the privacy and confidentiality rights of our clients; We inform our clients of the legal limits to this confidentiality and where required to make a disclosure wherever possible do this with the knowledge, participation and cooperation of our client.
7. We never abuse our power through inappropriate relationships of any sort with our clients.

With Regards to our Animal Partners.

1. We recognize and treat the animals we work with as sentient beings and partners worthy and deserving of our love and respect, and not as ‘property’ or ‘tools’.
2. We recognize and respect that animals have thoughts, feelings and opinions, and are capable of feeling both physical and emotional pain and suffering.
3. We respect, nurture and cherish the unique personalities belonging to each animal we work with.
4. We are never physically, verbally or emotionally abusive towards any animal.
5. We never ask an animal to do work which is physically, mentally or emotionally unhealthy for him/ her.
6. We seek to understand and define a scope of practice for each of our animal partners and to keep their workload within this.
7. We provide our animal partners with all veterinary and other care required for their physical, emotional and mental well being.
8. We recognise and seek to provide for our animals’ emotional and relational needs including with other animals.
9. We seek opportunities to act as an advocate for encouraging humanity’s respectful and ethical treatment, compassion and regard for all of God’s creatures and for the natural world and environment we live in.

With Regards to Other Professionals.

1. We treat other counsellors, mental health and learning professionals, especially those in the same area of practice as ourselves, as colleagues rather than as competitors.
2. We share resources and ideas with other counsellors, mental health, equine and learning professionals.
3. We treat other counsellors, mental health, equine and learning professionals, and their ideas and suggestions, with respect and courtesy.
4. We respect differences in counselling, equestrian and education approaches, styles and philosophies and do not try to impose our approach or beliefs as better or more ‘right’ than anyone else’s.
5. We provide other individuals seeking to work in this area with support, guidance and resources.
6. We ensure our training workshops are fairly priced and do not take financial advantage of people’s desire to learn.
7. We treat our volunteers, staff and contractors with respect and appreciation.
8. We aim to provide as many of our students as possible with work experience through the Healing Hooves programs, and do not accept payment for this service.

With Regards to Our Profession.

1. We continuously assess our own professional strengths and weaknesses and strive for ongoing improvement through continuing education and training.
2. We do not misrepresent ourselves by claiming or implying credentials or experience we do not have.
3. We assess, define, support, communicate and work within our scope of practice with regards to counselling, equine and educational services.
4. We follow all legal and professional regulations and requirements with regards to scope of practice and business.
5. We do not engage in any personal or other conduct which causes any harm to the reputation of our profession.
6. We strive to help advance overall learning and standards in the profession by participating in ethical and relevant research projects and by contributing to the professional literature.