Returning The Favour
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In November 2015, Connecting with Horses held the inaugural Equine Experiential Learning workshop for
Registered Massage Therapists (RMTs) The workshop, “Being Heard: Improving your communication skills
with the help of horses” was a brilliant success and there are three more scheduled for 2016.
Registered Massage Therapists (RMTs) The workshop, “Being Heard: Improving your communication skills
with the help of horses” was a brilliant success and there are three more scheduled for 2016.
In November 2015, Connecting with Horses held the inaugural Equine Experiential Learning workshop for Registered Massage Therapists (RMTs) The workshop, “Being Heard: Improving your communication skills with the help of horses” was a brilliant success and there are three more scheduled for 2016.
When one thinks of horses and Massage Therapists working together, it typically brings to mind people helping horses feel better. But what if we looked at the relationship in another way? What if it was the horses helping the Massage Therapists? What could horses do to help these people who spend their days trying to make people feel better? Perhaps horses could return the favour.
Indeed horses can help. They can teach RMTs to be better communicators and to improve their “bedside manner”. Bedside manner is defined in the urban dictionary as “the way a [Healthcare Professional] interacts and communicates with patients.” (1) Someone who is considered accomplished at bedside manner is professional and knowledgeable, but is also humane, compassionate, empathetic and supportive. (2) While professionalism and knowledge are often communicated to patients verbally, humanity, compassion, empathy and supportiveness tend to be primarily communicated non-verbally. In the workshop, this is where the horses came into the equation.
Horses are masters at non-verbal communication. As prey animals, horses must primarily communicate with the other members of their herd silently so as not to alert nearby predators to their location. Humans communicate non-verbally with each other as well, however they don’t often pay much attention to it, relying on their voice to communicate their intention. All Healthcare Professionals can become better communicators by recognizing the non-verbal cues that happen between them and their patients.
Through a number of different one-on-one exercises, Therapists interacted with the horses with the intention of receiving accurate, in-the-moment reflections of their own non-verbal signals. Also, through evaluating the horses’ responses to their own behaviours, the Therapists were able to improve their ability to interpret non-verbal communication cues coming from the horse. These valuable experiences can easily be translated into their practice by helping them to be, not only aware of their own non- verbal signals, but the signals of their patients as well. The help from the horses did not end there. The Therapists had more to learn.
One of the biggest challenges that the horses brought forth was boundaries. It is often the case that RMTs enter the profession because they want to help people, to “fix” them so to speak. They want their patients to not only like them personally, but to like their treatments. This can create some unhealthy boundaries. A couple of examples of these unhealthy boundaries are patients who try to control and direct their own treatments, thinking they know best. Or disrespecting the Therapist by not showing up for an appointment or cancelling with little or no notice. And on the side of the Therapists, getting too invested in the outcome of their treatments. A lot of RMTs allow all of these behaviours to continue for fear of being judged or for losing business.
The horses sensed these lack of boundaries immediately with most of the individuals and really challenged them to improve their skills at setting them consistently. Horses need boundaries. Boundaries make the horses feel safe and secure with whomever they are interacting with, weather it is another horse or with a human. The same is true for humans, however, they often get caught up in not wanting to offend a person or losing a friendship.
In the workshop, the RMTs quickly discovered that in setting boundaries with the horses, the horse respected them as soon as the boundary was set. In making the correlation to their practices, it was easy for them to see that people also feel the same way when a boundary is set.
After the workshop, participants revealed that setting boundaries with their patients was much easier to do after having interacted with the horses. Also, that all boundary setting with their patients yielded what was perceived as instant respect and reduction/ elimination of the original behaviour.
Initial feedback from the inaugural group of RMTs was extremely positive. Each participant expressed amazement at how much the horses taught them over the two-day course. By helping the Therapists gain insight into their ways of interacting so they could better manage their personal and professional lives helping others, the horses were successful in returning the favour.
Along with boundaries and non-verbal communication, they learned about personal space and how their energy affects others. As well, a powerful exercise involving working together as a team, brought new insights into how they interact in their own Healthcare practice environments. Look for my next article to fill you in on all those wonderful insights.
When one thinks of horses and Massage Therapists working together, it typically brings to mind people helping horses feel better. But what if we looked at the relationship in another way? What if it was the horses helping the Massage Therapists? What could horses do to help these people who spend their days trying to make people feel better? Perhaps horses could return the favour.
Indeed horses can help. They can teach RMTs to be better communicators and to improve their “bedside manner”. Bedside manner is defined in the urban dictionary as “the way a [Healthcare Professional] interacts and communicates with patients.” (1) Someone who is considered accomplished at bedside manner is professional and knowledgeable, but is also humane, compassionate, empathetic and supportive. (2) While professionalism and knowledge are often communicated to patients verbally, humanity, compassion, empathy and supportiveness tend to be primarily communicated non-verbally. In the workshop, this is where the horses came into the equation.
Horses are masters at non-verbal communication. As prey animals, horses must primarily communicate with the other members of their herd silently so as not to alert nearby predators to their location. Humans communicate non-verbally with each other as well, however they don’t often pay much attention to it, relying on their voice to communicate their intention. All Healthcare Professionals can become better communicators by recognizing the non-verbal cues that happen between them and their patients.
Through a number of different one-on-one exercises, Therapists interacted with the horses with the intention of receiving accurate, in-the-moment reflections of their own non-verbal signals. Also, through evaluating the horses’ responses to their own behaviours, the Therapists were able to improve their ability to interpret non-verbal communication cues coming from the horse. These valuable experiences can easily be translated into their practice by helping them to be, not only aware of their own non- verbal signals, but the signals of their patients as well. The help from the horses did not end there. The Therapists had more to learn.
One of the biggest challenges that the horses brought forth was boundaries. It is often the case that RMTs enter the profession because they want to help people, to “fix” them so to speak. They want their patients to not only like them personally, but to like their treatments. This can create some unhealthy boundaries. A couple of examples of these unhealthy boundaries are patients who try to control and direct their own treatments, thinking they know best. Or disrespecting the Therapist by not showing up for an appointment or cancelling with little or no notice. And on the side of the Therapists, getting too invested in the outcome of their treatments. A lot of RMTs allow all of these behaviours to continue for fear of being judged or for losing business.
The horses sensed these lack of boundaries immediately with most of the individuals and really challenged them to improve their skills at setting them consistently. Horses need boundaries. Boundaries make the horses feel safe and secure with whomever they are interacting with, weather it is another horse or with a human. The same is true for humans, however, they often get caught up in not wanting to offend a person or losing a friendship.
In the workshop, the RMTs quickly discovered that in setting boundaries with the horses, the horse respected them as soon as the boundary was set. In making the correlation to their practices, it was easy for them to see that people also feel the same way when a boundary is set.
After the workshop, participants revealed that setting boundaries with their patients was much easier to do after having interacted with the horses. Also, that all boundary setting with their patients yielded what was perceived as instant respect and reduction/ elimination of the original behaviour.
Initial feedback from the inaugural group of RMTs was extremely positive. Each participant expressed amazement at how much the horses taught them over the two-day course. By helping the Therapists gain insight into their ways of interacting so they could better manage their personal and professional lives helping others, the horses were successful in returning the favour.
Along with boundaries and non-verbal communication, they learned about personal space and how their energy affects others. As well, a powerful exercise involving working together as a team, brought new insights into how they interact in their own Healthcare practice environments. Look for my next article to fill you in on all those wonderful insights.
Indeed horses can help. They can teach RMTs to be better communicators and to improve their “bedside manner”.
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Victoria Sambleson Bio
For as long as she can remember, Victoria has had a love of horses. After sitting on a horse at a birthday party when she was 8, her grandparents had to abandon their dream of her being a Ballerina and buy her a pair of riding boots. She started riding at the age of 10 and always had horses in her thoughts and dreams. After achieving a Bachelor of Arts Degree from the University of Western Ontario, she spent 10 years working in the corporate environment as a Project Manager. Although Victoria was fulfilled in her corporate career, she felt a strong pull towards change. In 2002 Victoria left the corporate world to become a Registered Massage Therapist and began her own very successful private practice. As well as teaching massage at Sutherland-Chan Massage School, she also teaches continuing education workshops for RMTs all over the world. Victoria had discovered a new career she loved, however, along with running and managing her own business, the emotional and physical challenges of her patients at times became overwhelming. As a result, Victoria sought the help of her childhood friends...horses. She reconnected with these wonderful beings and found a new way to restore balance in her life. This began a wonderful journey of self-discovery, personal growth and Well-Being. In 2015, Victoria became a certified Facilitator of Equine Experiential Learning. Her goal is to evolve this powerful relationship between horses and humans and honour the wisdom of the Horse. Victoria can be contacted through www.connectingwithhorses.ca |