It's official

As of today I have completed my Level 7 post-graduate certificate in Equine Assisted Services through the Athena Herd Foundation. 


It was a great experience. There were four other students in my cohort and we all met at least once a month to discuss our projects and the process. I always enjoyed these conversations because they were filled with interesting discussions and good questions and ideas. 

As I've mentioned before, my action research project was to develop a program which would help to mitigate sibling conflict by working with horses. I also used the process to make changes to my original plan in order to create a more effective program. When the numbers were all crunched, those who participated showed a statistically significant increase in how their families interacted both in terms of general behavior as well as using the tools and skills they learned. All adults rated the work with the horses as being integral to the program's effectiveness. I will admit it was personally satisfying to see those numbers. 

The other cohort members had similar results in terms of the power of working with horses. There were also cohort members who are licensed therapists. One tested how effective therapy for anxiety was both with and without equine assisted learning. (The horse group fared better.) The other looked at the question of can working with horses help with the effects of compassion fatigue in foster careers. (Yes, they can.) The final member is a DBT practitioner and tested traditional methods versus those adding in horses. (Once again, the horse group felt as though they gained more from the sessions.) 

It was an interesting process and a lot of work. I'm very glad I did it and I am equally glad that I am at the end. I know it made me a much better equine assisted learning facilitator than I was when I started the certification. 

If you are in the Chicago area and are interested in your family experiencing the sibling conflict program (or my similar program focusing on self-regulation), send me a message through my website. And please feel free to share with anyone who might be interested. (I do plenty of parent coaching remotely if you aren't in the area. 

Comments

Angie S. said…
Congratulations! I know you will be a blessing to many as you work with them.
5/06/2025 3:28 PM
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