Building Internal Resilience through Horses
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“Samson showed me there is a future beyond the
present and past. His sadness and energy just made
me want to hug him and show him that love exists.
He made me feel special, like I mattered to him.
He showed me that I can trust him.”
Samson’s size can be intimidating. He has big, soft, brown eyes. He is cautious and reserved when meeting people he doesn’t know. While quite powerful, he suffers from anxiety. On this day, he is meeting a group of young women for the first time and he’s nervous.
Samson is a beautiful Clydesdale/Belgium cross who arrived at his current home after a lifetime of working very hard. He was tired and burnt out upon arrival. While he still has strong shoulders to lean on -- now he has a new purpose as a life coach.
A young woman is introduced to him as part of a facilitated ‘welcome to the herd’ experience. There is something in his demeanour that peacefully draws her in. Quietly, in this moment, time stops as they stand together, sizing each other up. He starts to yawn – releasing some of the tension between them and inviting her to exhale. She responds with a smile and her body relaxes. He relaxes too as they stand together – both present and enjoying the moment.
Samson is a wonderful natural coach. He is part of a gentle herd of horses helping young women overcome the impact of violence-based trauma and build their life skills thanks to an initiative called Building Internal Resilience Through Horses.
This is a 12-week community-based program designed to promote resilience and life-skills in young women aged 13 – 18 living in the City and County of Peterborough and surrounding areas in Ontario, Canada, who are survivors of child maltreatment and/or who are women exposed to intimate partner violence. The program is grounded in trauma-informed practice and consists of 8 weeks of experiential equine-assisted learning sessions, supplemented with 4 weeks of psychoeducational and expressive art workshops.
Building Internal Resilience is also a three-year research project, challenging the paradigm that traditional counselling and ‘talk therapies’ are the only effective approaches to supporting young women aged 13 – 18 cope with the impact of trauma. Launched in March, 2017, the research project is led by Kawartha Sexual Assault Centre and is a collaboration between The Mane Intent and Trent University funded by the Public Health Agency of Canada. It is furthering existing research on the benefits of equine-assisted learning for survivors of child maltreatment and for young women exposed to intimate partner violence.
“We are exploring the benefits of an experiential learning paradigm based on non-verbal interaction with horses as a vehicle for improving self-awareness, confidence, emotion management and interpersonal skills,” explains Dr. Kateryna Keefer, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology at Trent University and the research lead for Building Internal Resilience Through Horses.
The Kawartha Sexual Assault Centre has renewed its focus on resiliency and prevention initiatives for young people because many of the individuals who access the Centre share stories of childhood abuse. “Our project addresses the mental health needs of young women who have been victims of and/or witnessed domestic violence (or may be experiencing dating violence) and have or at risk of child abuse. The design and delivery of our project is innovative in that we are targeting the well-known link between experiences of harm and risk for future harm, and we are hypothesizing that the combination of equine assisted learning, coupled with expressive arts workshops and trauma-related psychotherapy, will build resiliency for our participants, thereby improving their long-term outcomes for the future,” explains Sonya Vellenga, Executive Director, Kawartha Sexual Assault Centre.
As lead facilitator and project manager for the program, it has been incredibly rewarding for me to witness the personal unfolding that happens when you introduce participants to a gentle, curious herd of horses with a genuine desire to connect.
Ultimately our intent is to help young women reduce post-traumatic symptoms, improve mental health, enhance personal coping skills and resilience, while reducing their risk of harm in the future. Our early results to date are suggesting that these powerful relationships are a step in the right direction.
The “real” me
“This group gave me a chance to see the real me,” a participant shared after completing the program.
“The horses taught me so much in so little time,” one participant shared as part of her feedback.
“I felt empowered. I felt supported by both horses as they both gave me something out of this,” noted another.
Our herd includes a mixture of mares and geldings who arrived at the farm with a variety of life experiences — much like many of our clients. This is a gentle, relaxed herd. Each horse brings a unique personality and their own story to this work, as they engage on the ground in partnership with our clients. For participants in Building Internal Resilience With Horses, this is a safe place to explore what’s possible while being mindful of their heart’s desire.
Summarizing their experience in one word, the young women reported feeling ‘empowered,’ ‘powerful,’ ‘calm,’ ‘confident,’ and ‘loved.’ Or as noted by Samson’s client above, they find a space to discover trust again.
Samson is a beautiful Clydesdale/Belgium cross who arrived at his current home after a lifetime of working very hard. He was tired and burnt out upon arrival. While he still has strong shoulders to lean on -- now he has a new purpose as a life coach.
A young woman is introduced to him as part of a facilitated ‘welcome to the herd’ experience. There is something in his demeanour that peacefully draws her in. Quietly, in this moment, time stops as they stand together, sizing each other up. He starts to yawn – releasing some of the tension between them and inviting her to exhale. She responds with a smile and her body relaxes. He relaxes too as they stand together – both present and enjoying the moment.
Samson is a wonderful natural coach. He is part of a gentle herd of horses helping young women overcome the impact of violence-based trauma and build their life skills thanks to an initiative called Building Internal Resilience Through Horses.
This is a 12-week community-based program designed to promote resilience and life-skills in young women aged 13 – 18 living in the City and County of Peterborough and surrounding areas in Ontario, Canada, who are survivors of child maltreatment and/or who are women exposed to intimate partner violence. The program is grounded in trauma-informed practice and consists of 8 weeks of experiential equine-assisted learning sessions, supplemented with 4 weeks of psychoeducational and expressive art workshops.
Building Internal Resilience is also a three-year research project, challenging the paradigm that traditional counselling and ‘talk therapies’ are the only effective approaches to supporting young women aged 13 – 18 cope with the impact of trauma. Launched in March, 2017, the research project is led by Kawartha Sexual Assault Centre and is a collaboration between The Mane Intent and Trent University funded by the Public Health Agency of Canada. It is furthering existing research on the benefits of equine-assisted learning for survivors of child maltreatment and for young women exposed to intimate partner violence.
“We are exploring the benefits of an experiential learning paradigm based on non-verbal interaction with horses as a vehicle for improving self-awareness, confidence, emotion management and interpersonal skills,” explains Dr. Kateryna Keefer, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology at Trent University and the research lead for Building Internal Resilience Through Horses.
The Kawartha Sexual Assault Centre has renewed its focus on resiliency and prevention initiatives for young people because many of the individuals who access the Centre share stories of childhood abuse. “Our project addresses the mental health needs of young women who have been victims of and/or witnessed domestic violence (or may be experiencing dating violence) and have or at risk of child abuse. The design and delivery of our project is innovative in that we are targeting the well-known link between experiences of harm and risk for future harm, and we are hypothesizing that the combination of equine assisted learning, coupled with expressive arts workshops and trauma-related psychotherapy, will build resiliency for our participants, thereby improving their long-term outcomes for the future,” explains Sonya Vellenga, Executive Director, Kawartha Sexual Assault Centre.
As lead facilitator and project manager for the program, it has been incredibly rewarding for me to witness the personal unfolding that happens when you introduce participants to a gentle, curious herd of horses with a genuine desire to connect.
Ultimately our intent is to help young women reduce post-traumatic symptoms, improve mental health, enhance personal coping skills and resilience, while reducing their risk of harm in the future. Our early results to date are suggesting that these powerful relationships are a step in the right direction.
The “real” me
“This group gave me a chance to see the real me,” a participant shared after completing the program.
“The horses taught me so much in so little time,” one participant shared as part of her feedback.
“I felt empowered. I felt supported by both horses as they both gave me something out of this,” noted another.
Our herd includes a mixture of mares and geldings who arrived at the farm with a variety of life experiences — much like many of our clients. This is a gentle, relaxed herd. Each horse brings a unique personality and their own story to this work, as they engage on the ground in partnership with our clients. For participants in Building Internal Resilience With Horses, this is a safe place to explore what’s possible while being mindful of their heart’s desire.
Summarizing their experience in one word, the young women reported feeling ‘empowered,’ ‘powerful,’ ‘calm,’ ‘confident,’ and ‘loved.’ Or as noted by Samson’s client above, they find a space to discover trust again.
A space to discover trust again.
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Jennifer Garland Bio Jennifer Garland is the Owner/Program Director for The Mane Intent Inc. offer equine-inspired wellness workshops, coaching, team building and leadership development programming. She is the overall project manager, Equine-Assisted Learning Supervisor and Facilitator for the Building Internal Resilience Through Horses project. She has her certification in FEEL™ (Facilitated Equine Experiential Learning) is completing a Masters of Arts Degree in Counselling Psychology. To her work, Jennifer brings over 25 years of award-winning corporate experience in communications, change management, and community investment. She has provided counsel and coaching to support leaders from all sectors to build relationships, facilitate learning and embrace change. Learn more at www.themaneintent.ca Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/themaneintent Instagram: @themaneintent Photo credit: Summers Photography Be sure to check out Jennifer's presentation from our Humans Connecting with Horses Conference 2020, Building Internal Resilience Through Horses. |