
Integrating Horses into Healing
- 1st Edition - March 28, 2023
- Imprint: Academic Press
- Author: Cheryl Meola
- Language: English
- Paperback ISBN:9 7 8 - 0 - 4 4 3 - 1 9 1 9 5 - 4
- eBook ISBN:9 7 8 - 0 - 4 4 3 - 1 9 1 9 6 - 1
Written by experts and founders in the world of equine assisted services (EAS), Integrating Horses into Healing: A Comprehensive Guide to Equine Assisted Services is an all-inclu… Read more

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Request a sales quoteWritten by experts and founders in the world of equine assisted services (EAS), Integrating Horses into Healing: A Comprehensive Guide to Equine Assisted Services is an all-inclusive, hands-on guide for any practitioner, researcher, or student interested in EAS. The book provides a wealth of knowledge, including perspectives from therapy and coaching practitioners, equine professionals, veterinarians, researchers, clients, board members, and founders of the EAS industry. These diverse perspectives offer a depth and insight that make this a go-to guide for EAS practitioners and researchers. The focus of the book is on the ethical incorporation of equines into different therapy modalities. The well-being of the equine as well as the practitioner team is addressed, as well as sustainability and health within a for-profit and non-profit structure.
- Offers ethical practices for integrating equine assisted services into therapies, coaching, and other services.
- Provides a foundational introduction to the benefits and practices of equine assisted services
- Discusses business and legal considerations for EAS ventures
Practitioners in psychotherapy, coaching, occupational therapy, and physical therapy (especially those involved in equine assisted services), equine researchers and professionals; horse owners
- Cover image
- Title page
- Table of Contents
- Copyright
- Dedication
- Contributors
- Biography
- Foreword
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Chapter 1. Natural therapeutic aspects of horses
- Innate qualities of horses
- Heterarchy
- Discernment
- Wee Donkey
- Food for thought
- Conclusion
- Self-assessment
- Perspective from the field: Chosen
- Chapter 2. The evolution of equine-assisted services (EAS): horses are good for people
- Relationship of horses and humans through history
- Terminology is dynamic, evolving, and often controversial
- The importance of research
- Perspective from the field
- Conclusion
- Chapter 3. Horse Speak and Partnership
- The benefits of using Horse Speak in EAS
- First steps of Horse Speak
- Postures and gestures of horses
- Learning an essential message: Saying “hello”
- Using HorseSpeak to create a safe environment for horse partnership
- Activity: Making a Safety Object
- Green, yellow, and red zones—the horse's yes, maybe, and NO …
- Horse Speak and genuine partnership
- A few more considerations
- Enrichment activities
- Conclusion
- Chapter 4. Relational Equine-Partnered Counseling (REPC)
- Overview
- Philosophical domains
- Treatment team
- Phases
- Ethical considerations
- Josephine and Freedom
- Self-assessment and resources
- Perspective from the field: The REPC ES perspective
- Chapter 5. An in-depth approach to relational work with equines: Natural Lifemanship
- Introduction
- Attachment and detachment
- Self-assessment and resources
- Chapter 6. Breathing into relationships: the HERD Institute approach to equine-facilitated psychotherapy
- Introduction
- The HERD Model™ of equine facilitated psychotherapy
- Case study
- Coming Home to Relationships and Integration
- Choice points
- A systemic perspective
- Conclusion
- Resources
- Chapter 7. Side-to-side astride: the benefits and challenges of equine mounted work in trauma processing
- Introduction
- Ethical considerations
- What does it take to do this work?
- Angela's Perspective
- Josephine's perspective
- Chapter 8. Blended therapy modalities in equine-assisted psychotherapy: integrating equine-engaged internal family systems (EE-IFS) and equine-connected eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EC-EMDR)
- Introduction: an evolution from the office to the round pen
- Overview of the Internal Family Systems model
- IFS informed EAP
- Parts of the whole: IFS and NL—a natural connection
- Benefits to the horse
- Overview of Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing (EMDR)
- EC-EMDR case study
- Encouragement
- Self-assessment and resources
- Chapter 9. Medical therapy (OT, PT, SLP) enhanced with hippotherapy
- Introduction
- Why equine movement?
- Application of equine movement
- The importance of medical quality equine movement in therapy applications
- Patient populations
- Clinical evidence and ethical considerations
- Physical therapy enhanced with equine movement
- Occupation, intervention, and equine movement
- Speech-language therapy enhanced with hippotherapy
- Administrative considerations
- Conclusion
- Chapter 10. The Equus Effect: a road to regulation through equine-assisted learning
- The Equus Effect philosophy
- Shifting a paradigm
- Description of The Equus Effect program
- A typical session
- A case study example
- Self-assessment checklist
- Perspective from the field: Gifts from Above Starting in EAS Later in Life
- Perspective from the field: Equine Gestalt Coaching Method
- Chapter 11. Serving those who served … and still serve
- Introduction
- Cindy's story
- EAS and the military population
- Trauma informed care and the military population
- Cultural competencies with military populations
- Trauma informed care integrated into EAS: theoretical orientations
- Perspective from the field: Beau and the Marine
- Post-traumatic growth
- Perspective from the Field: A Life of Service
- EAS with Dave: Example from the field of individual work
- Families/supports serve too
- Caregivers serve too
- Perspective from the field: Hidden Heroes
- The Five Freedoms (The Five Freedoms)
- EAS with the Travis Mills Foundation: Example from the field of group work
- Safety tips for volunteers and staff
- Conclusion
- Chapter 12. Beyond mind and body: spiritual connections in equine-assisted services
- Introduction
- Practicing spiritual connection in equine assisted service sessions
- Self-assessment and resources
- Perspective from the field: Spiritual wellness work with horses
- What I have witnessed in my spiritual journey with horses
- The KaiMaster and Julia
- Two of four main principles of the spiritual nature of wellness work with horses
- Horses are sentient beings
- Horses as medium to the universe
- A spiritual experience with my own heart horse, Brown
- Resources
- Chapter 13. Be the Horse's Advocate
- Introduction
- A look into the flight/fight/freeze responses of horses
- Understanding hypervigilance and accentuated responsiveness as survival mechanisms
- A look at socialization and connection as survival mechanisms
- Understanding the characteristics of the individual horse
- Understanding eating as a survival mechanism for horses
- Understanding stress factors in the domestic environment
- Conclusion
- Resources
- Chapter 14. Enhancing the horses voice: incorporating Horse Speak into psychotherapy
- Reality and sustainability of consent and agency
- A sample session—based on real-life (edited to protect the privacy of the client)
- Practical applications for clients
- Benefits of integrating Horse Speak into psychotherapy (from Susanne)
- A typical session (from Sharon)
- Conclusion (Sharon and Susanne)
- Training and resources
- Chapter 15. Exploring socio-emotional and cognitive development in horses
- Introduction
- Juno, 2months old
- Cloud, seventeen years old
- Overview of what it looks-like to be grounded in overall development
- Social-emotional and cognitive development of horses
- Activity seven
- Activity eight
- Resources
- Chapter 16. Not just horsing around: an equine professional's guiding principles
- Guiding Principle 1: Certification
- Guiding Principle 2: Horses as equals
- Guiding Principle 3: Horses as sentient beings
- Guiding Principle 4: Relationship is essential
- Guiding Principle 5: Personal growth as responsibility
- Guiding Principle 6: Trust the process
- Guiding Principle 7: Wellness plans for horses
- Guiding Principle 8: Horses benefit, too
- Self-assessment
- Chapter 17. The role of the equine professional in equine-assisted services
- Introduction
- The purpose of an EP
- The client
- Example from the field
- The equine
- Conclusion
- Chapter 18. Heart centered horsemanship: the Horse trainer's perspective in EAS
- Introduction
- Chapter 19. A holistic perspective: My transformative journey through Natural Lifemanship
- My personal journey
- The role of practitioner wellness
- Natural Lifemanship and connected horsemanship
- Integrating my Natural Lifemanship experiences
- Chapter 20. Are we there yet? The ongoing journey of Healing for the healers
- Introduction: the wellness journey
- A true understanding of “effective self-care”
- Nutrition
- Movement
- Stress management
- Work/life balance
- Seeking support
- Resources
- Chapter 21. Interventions and strategies toward mental health and wellbeing for professionals
- Introduction
- Emotional intelligence
- Theoretical foundation
- Mental health practice
- EmotionalCPR
- Embodied listening
- Embodied awareness
- Practice
- Recommendations for practitioners
- Resources
- Objective
- Supplies
- Directions
- Chapter 22. Starting or restarting an equine-assisted services organization: Don’t put the cart before the horse
- Introduction
- Groundwork
- Community Needs Assessment
- Identifying resources needed
- Conclusion
- Perspectives from the field: accreditation: how I chose my path
- Resources
- Reflection and assessment questions
- Chapter 23. The key to a successful non-profit board
- Why do you, your board, and your EAS organization matter
- Treating your EAS organization as a startup
- The not-for-profit pitch deck
- Getting your board swimming in the blue ocean: board recruiting
- Board members as donors and vice versa
- Are you ready? board member self-assessment
- Conclusion
- Perspective from the field: board diversity for organizational success and sustainability
- Resources
- Chapter 24. How do you know it works: Evaluating equine-assisted service programs
- Introduction
- Purposes of program evaluation
- Resources
- Chapter 25. Bridging research and practice in equine-assisted services
- Introduction to research
- Stakeholders, organizational culture, and psychological safety (the “what”)
- Motivations for research (the “why”)
- Barriers and proposed solutions (the “how”)
- Self-assessment and resources
- Conclusions
- Chapter 26. Conclusions and future directions
- Index
- Edition: 1
- Published: March 28, 2023
- Imprint: Academic Press
- No. of pages: 410
- Language: English
- Paperback ISBN: 9780443191954
- eBook ISBN: 9780443191961
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