Introducing a New Blog Series!
Much of our work at Healing Hooves is indirect or ‘one (horse) step removed’. There are lots of reasons for this, some of which we have explored in other posts you can find on our blog.
But how do we do this?
There are two main ways.
Firstly, we work experientially through the horses. Instead of talking about boundaries with a teenage girl, we have her practice them with a 1200lb horse. Once she experiences, with our support, what this feels like – both the struggles and the successes – she may feel more able to talk about it, and she will most likely be better able to apply these experiences and skills within her human relationships.
We also work through our horses’ stories.
The beauty of this second approach is that you don’t have to be attending counselling or animal assisted training with us to benefit from or draw upon it. All you need is a good story (ideally about an animal), with a sound message, and some knowledge in how to deliver that message through the story.
The aim of this new blog series is to start to equip you – as parents, grandparents, educators or helping professionals – to be able to select and share stories with the children in your life in ways which encourage and facilitate emotional healing and development growth, without triggering defenses or doing harm.
In our first segment we will review some of the reasons WHY we work one step removed, especially with our most vulnerable or sensitive children.
Then we will explore HOW to select and draw upon therapeutic stories.
We will also explore WHO can benefit the most from this approach.
After that we will take a selection of therapeutic stories and share the ‘story behind the story’ to guide you through examples of how and when to share particular stories.
Like or follow our facebook page or follow our blog so that you see these posts as they become available.
New Training Course
If this is something that you are interested to learn even more about, stay tuned! We are currently developing a new distance education course and onsite workshop which will explore all of these concepts in more depth. More on this to come soon!
If you are working towards certification in Equine or Animal Assisted Therapy this course will help build your skills and credentials for certification and practice.
If you are a caregiver, educator or mental health professional it can be taken as a ‘stand alone’ course to develop or enhance your skills.
We are excited to be starting this journey with you!