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
CM
Cheryl Meola
Dr. Cheryl Meola is the founder of Mane Source Counseling, a psychotherapy practice specializing in equine assisted therapy and coaching in Ayden, North Carolina. She is a co-founder and Executive Director of Horses and HEALTH Inc, a non-profit organization that provides EAS to Veterans at no cost to participants. Before getting her master’s in counseling, Cheryl was a professional horse trainer, instructor, and intercollegiate coach for 20+ years. During her master’s studies at Bridgewater State University, Cheryl started working with a mentor in equine assisted psychotherapy. She obtained her PhD from East Carolina University. She is also involved in research, coaching, supervising, writing, and teaching. She has two mares, Octavia and Tia, who are valued co-therapists at Mane Source.
Affiliations and expertise
MANE Source Counseling USARead Integrating Horses into Healing on ScienceDirect