Trauma Informed Practice In Equine Assisted Services

Learn how to incorporate trauma informed practice into your equine assisted intervention.

What you'll learn

Understand the principles of trauma informed practice

Understand how trauma might show up in equine environments

Learn how to help clients stay below threshold and handle trauma activation

Learn how to minimise vicarious trauma

Requirements

No previous experience needed.

Description

In our work with both horses and people, recovery, resilience-building and compassion are key. This course will equip you in using trauma informed techniques, reducing risk of exposure to trauma by creating safe, supportive, and inclusive environments and offer strategies to buffer against impact when exposure happens for staff, clients and volunteers. Trauma-informed approaches have become increasingly cited in policy and adopted in practice as a means for reducing the negative impact of trauma experiences and supporting mental and physical health outcomes. They build on evidence developed over several decades. However, there has been a lack of consensus of understanding in the equine industry on how trauma-informed practice is defined, what its key principles are and how it can be built into services and systems. Trauma results from an event, series of events, or set of circumstances that is experienced by an individual as harmful or life threatening. While unique to the individual, generally the experience of trauma can cause lasting adverse effects, limiting the ability to function and achieve mental, physical, social, emotional or spiritual well-being. Trauma-informed practice is an approach to health and care interventions which is grounded in the understanding that trauma exposure can impact an individual’s neurological, biological, psychological and social development.

Overview

Section 1: Introduction

Lecture 1 Introduction

Section 2: Understanding trauma

Lecture 2 What is trauma?

Lecture 3 3 Stages of Recovery

Lecture 4 Types of Trauma and Trauma Response

Section 3: Trauma in the Equine Environment

Lecture 5 The Equine Environment

Lecture 6 The Nature of the Horse

Lecture 7 Protected Spaces

Section 4: Trauma Informed Practice

Lecture 8 The Principles

Lecture 9 Language and Terminology

Lecture 10 Trauma Informed Checklist

Lecture 11 Vicarious Traumatisation

Lecture 12 Summary

Section 5: Tips, Tricks and Technques

Lecture 13 Brain and Body Based Strategies

Equine assisted professionals or those interested in working therapeutically with horses and people.