Hevonan: An Alternative Therapy for Addiction (April 2019)

I have experience in assisting therapists who use equine therapy and mindfulness to help individuals struggling with addiction.

Background:

I have been invited to do work experience at the Hevonan Equine Therapy Centre multiple times. This involves me assisting with a group of individuals who had chosen to explore this therapy as part of their 28-day treatment programme from the priory. The session revolves around personal mindfulness and group exercises with the allocated horse and equine equipment. I have gained valuable experience from assisting in this environment. It has helped me understand how readdressing a problem in an abstract way can help in the healing process, how to act and speak sensitively around vulnerable individuals and how to make individuals feel comfortable talking about how they feel and helping them to devise future strategies for remaining on a healing path.

Role:

My role during these sessions varied between setting up equipment, escorting and spending time with the participants, running the mindfulness session, facilitating conversation and action during the group activities, mediating the group activities and giving feedback and debriefing with the therapists.

Skills:

-Mindfulness

-Emotional Intelligence

-Visualising problems and emotions in an abstract way

-Facilitation

-Communicating with vulnerable individuals

-Encouraging them to communicate back

-Mediating a potentially emotional situation with multiple individuals

-Collaborative working

-Extracting deeper insights from basic conversation and activities

-Sensitive and thoughtful feedback