Equine-Assisted Mental Health, University of Denver, IHAC

Join IHAC's Director of Equine Programs, Nina Ekholm Fry for a FREE webinar titled, "Horses in Therapy and Education Services: Updates to Terminology and Concepts in the U.S." on February 23, 2023, from 5:00 to 6:00 PM MT.

Learn more and register now at: tinyurl.com/IHACEquineWebinar

This post-master's program on the inclusion of equine interactions in psychotherapy and counseling and The Institute for Human-Animal Connection condemn the recent and historic weaponization of horses and dogs against humans. Our graduate Rebecca Cohen with Stable Grounds Therapy provides the appropriate -anti-racist focus- and call to action regarding recent violence. This is especially important for those who include equine interactions in human services and promote horses as sources of support for clients - horses should not be part of violence directed toward them.

From Rebecca Cohen:
If you have not yet seen the images of the human rights atrocities occurring at the Texas border, check out the post by to see the story and the images. White border patrol agents are using horses to enact and enforce racial violence.

This is not new. It is part of historical trauma to see people in power use horses to enact violence against the people they are oppressing.

Those of us who work at the intersection of the human-animal bond cannot ignore our role in speaking out against this. If you are white and work in equine interactions and welfare and have struggled to find your place in interrupting oppression, this is your time.

And in doing so, be careful to center the needs of the Black people who are experiencing this violence. White and human supremacy will have us fighting over who needs the attention: the horses or the humans. But remember, Human supremacy tells us that other animals are sub-human. White supremacy tells us that Black and Brown people are lower than those animals. To ignore this is to collude with white supremacist ideology. We are not past this. Center the humans.

And yes. Like , these horses are in clear pain and distress and we must denounce this as well. But not alongside silence regarding the racialized violence that is occurring simultaneously.

Director of Equine Programs Nina Ekholm Fry is part of the HERD Virtual Summit on July 11th, 2020. The summit is FREE to access during the first 48 hours. Nina is presenting together with Katy Schroeder from Texas Tech University on Clinician Experiences of Resilience and Reconnection during COVID-19. Check out her presentation and many others here:
https://herd-virtual-summit-2020.app.virtualsummits.com/

Are you interested in becoming competent in the inclusion of equine interactions in psychotherapy or counseling (equine-assisted therapy) through a professional certificate program that focuses on scientific information about horses and our interactions with them, and understands the needs related to scope of practice for mental health professionals?

The Equine-Assisted Mental Health Practitioner Certificate program at University of Denver's The Institute for Human-Animal Connection has graduates from North America, Europe, and Asia who have all chosen a post-master program that provides comprehensive education, training, and supervision beyond a single model or approach.

The focus on providing ethical and effective services aligned with current competencies means that therapists learn how to enhance their own theoretical framework, whether related to trauma, attachment, DBT, interpersonal neurobiology, CBT, social skills, emotion-focused therapy, and more, through equine interactions and the equine environment

Learn more and apply now at: --
Nina Ekholm Fry, MSSc., CCTP
Director of Equine Programs - Institute for Human-Animal Connection
Human-Animal-Environment Interactions in Social Work (HAEI-SW) MSW Certificate Coordinator
Equine Assisted Mental Health Practitioner Certificate Post-Master's Program Coordinator
Adjunct Professor - Graduate School of Social Work & Graduate School of Professional Psychology
University of Denver
Email: [email protected]
Office: (303) 871-3101
Cell: (928) 830-5727

2148 South High Street
Denver, CO 80208
http://www.du.edu/humananimalconnection

Equine Assisted Mental Health Practitioner Certificate
https://du.digication.com/EAMH

Social justice is, and should be, a guiding principle for mental health professionals. Therapists are taught to recognize their role power as healthcare providers and to realize systems of privilege and oppression affecting health and wellbeing. Doing and promoting anti-racism work in our professional community is a key responsibility, especially for white therapists.

The Equine-Assisted Mental Health, University of Denver, IHAC program at The Institute for Human-Animal Connection commits to recognizing white privilege in healthcare and in our world as a whole, and realizing the interconnected systems of power and privilege that exist when including non-human animals, such as horses, in the therapeutic environment. We encourage everyone who provides training in human-horse interactions to join in this.

When including equine interactions and the equine environment in your psychotherapy sessions, you have additional options for physical positioning and use of gaze with your client, which may be more comfortable and more conducive to therapeutic work.

We have a few spots left for the fall cohorts of the EAMH program, learn more at: http://portfolio.du.edu/equineassistedmentalhealth

Hear Ron Siegel and Christine Padesky provide tips for positioning and gaze (for telehealth) in this NICABM resource below. Side-by-side work, a break from mutual gaze, and different considerations for client vistas are all made easy when including interactions with horses in your therapy practice.

Practical Ways to Improve Telehealth Sessions - NICABM A lot of practitioners have made the switch to telehealth sessions during the COVID-19 pandemic. But seeing patients on a computer screen can be surprisingly exhausting. Beyond that, it can introduce new clinical challenges to the session. In the video below, Christine Padesky, PhD and Ron Siegel, P...

If you are a therapist currently providing psychotherapy/counseling, please consider participating in this new study on psychotherapy, animal interactions, and the COVID-19 outbreak conducted by IHAC's Nina Ekholm Fry and Katy Schroeder from Texas Tech University.

Are you a therapist who includes animal interactions in psychotherapy or counseling sessions ("animal-assisted therapy", "equine-assisted therapy")? We are researchers from Texas Tech University and University of Denver conducting a study on how the COVID-19 outbreak is impacting you. To learn more and contribute to the study via an anonymous, 15-minute online survey, please click on the link: https://tinyurl.com/COVIDPsychotherapyAnimals

For questions, contact Katy Schroeder: [email protected]

Psychotherapy, Animal Interactions, and the COVID-19 Outbreak: Clinician Experiences and Attitudes The inclusion of animal interactions in mental healthcare is an area of specialized service delivery that has been uniquely impacted by the COVID-19 outbreak. We are researchers from Texas Tech University and the University of Denver conducting a study to understand how clinicians who include intera...

IHAC Equine is in Lexington for the Eagala 20th anniversary conference! Visit with Nina Ekholm Fry at our table to learn more about the Equine-Assisted Mental Health Practitioner Certificate program specifically designed for mental health professionals who include horses in their therapy practice, and other offerings at the The Institute for Human-Animal Connection 😊🐴

Come ask questions about human-horse interactions from Nina Ekholm Fry at the PATH International 50th Anniversary Conference in Denver, CO this weekend! Here with The Institute for Human-Animal Connection executive director Philip Tedeschi