Strides to Success is happy to host a number of in-person events. These immersive workshops are packed full of information that will help you elevate your EAL skills. From one-to-one training, group sessions, and hand-on learning, there are a variety of ways we work to teach core and advanced training in EAL. Take a look below at some of our in person workshops.
Strategies for Sustainability
Date to be announced for 2023- Go here to register!
Strides to Success is proud to host this 3-day workshop. For the last twenty years, our colleagues have looked to Strides for processes and techniques that can be duplicated to develop sustainable businesses. Strides have shared programs that hold the highest of industry standards through our curriculum and now we will teach you how to market programs, and teach you how to put a price to your work that demonstrates the true value of your services, and how to develop a plan that ensures your sustainability for the future to come. As data shows, it is not always easy to make a living in equine assisted work. But, after this three-day experience, you will have a plan, the knowledge to build a program that meets a community need, know how to evaluate that program, and know how to keep your business from being vulnerable to unforeseen changes. HORSEWORK™ is designed to help people achieve their dreams of operating an equine-assisted business in a way that honors both clients and horses. Our methods are practical and while grounded in empirical evidence, are practical and easy to replicate.
It is our objective to give each participant a comprehensive “how-to” for each of the day’s intensive programs. This will include philosophy/ models, program forms, samples of lesson/session plans, evaluation methods, budgets, sample contracts, sample grants, and much more. You will learn how to design, how to sell, evaluate, and how to position yourself to deliver proven models. In addition, you will explore how to provide diverse services that can follow community funding that will support your center financially with earned income, grants or fundraising events. This workshop is perfect for administrators, board members, program directors, mental health and education professionals, equine specialists, and those that are in the dream stage. There will be both classroom and arena work each day covering education, corporate, mental health, and coaching models. Workshop participants will receive research for their local area of service and will work on developing a strategy that works for your center. You will leave with a new insight into their future, ready to hit the ground running!
Cost: $475 includes lunches & course materials sent to you.
Facilitators Debbie Anderson and Blair McKissock with special guest speakers.
Making the Shift to EAL
2023 Dates to be announced
Make the shift in your thinking to HorseWork! Explore the horse human’s relationship through the horse’s point of view in the new workshop designed for those learning to facilitate therapy and learning sessions with horses. Learn how to recognize the questions that the horses are presenting to your clients and how to leverage the answers to support the goals of your session. This workshop is perfect for therapeutic riding instructors, equine specialists, mental health therapists, and other professionals who want to learn how to leverage the very nature of the offerings from the horses that we partner with. This is your chance to deepen your knowledge of HorseWork and gain those skills that may not have been covered in other certifications and training. This workshop is all about the horse and focuses solely on working with horses in equine-assisted learning.
Come join us for a three-day training that will change the way you work with your horses. We will cover the following topics:
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- Overview of the foundation theory of equine-assisted learning
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- Learn about the nature of the horse in equine-assisted learning and therapy
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- Understanding your role as the equine specialist
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- Horse behavior and herd dynamics and how they apply to direct services to clients
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- Evaluating horses for EAL suitability
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- Strategies for leveraging the horse’s input in EAL programs
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- Designing purposeful environments for both horses and clients
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- Shifting from skill development to relationship building and social skills
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- Utilizing natural horsemanship as a gateway for EAL
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- Creating a positive and safe learning environment
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- Understanding and acknowledging the horse’s point of view
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- Ethical ground activities from the horse’s perspective
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- Pairing horses with clients
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- Managing a strength-based relationship in a session
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- Refreshing your horse’s enthusiasm to partner with humans!
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- De-sensitizing OR igniting courage and trust
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- Ethical challenges
This ground-based approach taps into the natural and playful attributes of horses to help clients learn essential life skills, problem-solving techniques, heightened awareness of their actions and the actions of others. This learning opportunity will guide you through the process of observing a horse-human relationship that stimulates new learning in humans.
EAL (equine-assisted learning) can open the door for a whole new approach to your program. Learning to play with horses can offer a refreshing change for your herd while providing your business with the ability to serve a more diverse population. Learn how to facilitate ground activities that can empower clients to discover their own strengths and talents utilizing experiential education, coaching, and leadership development models. Participants will leave the workshop with a clear vision of how to work with horses in an EAL setting. Because you love what you do, HorseWork Education wants to expand your knowledge to help you make a living doing what you love!
Price: $475
Professional Immersion
Do you need hours to complete a certification, or are you the type of learner that just needs to step into the work and learn? Strides to Success is so excited to introduce a new opportunity to equine assisted professionals. This unique immersion experience was an exclusive training immersion only available to HorseWork trainees but has now been opened to all interested professionals. We get phone calls every day from professionals who are just starting out to those who are looking to learn more about what we do. Well, now you can! This condensed immersion program is a 4 day intensive program designed to give you a peak behind the curtain at Strides to Success and learn side by side with our fantastic staff. This is not for the faint of heart but is early mornings helping get the barn settled for the day, all day groups and one on one sessions with active clients, one on one time with Debbie and Blair and tucking the horses in bed at the end of the day. Learn more about our facilitation techniques in equine-assisted learning, learn how we partner with mental health professionals, how we work with groups ranging from schools, veterans to victims of trauma and more about the Strides business model. This opportunity is meant to be hands on but does not replace the HorseWork workshop content but rather, it shows you HOW it works. We don’t believe in operating in fish bowl and don’t allow “observers.” You will be part of the session. How much hands on horse time depends on your level of horse experience and certification status. This is considered a residential program, we have partner hotels where you can make arrangements. Our hotel partners will provide all transportation to and from the airport and to and from the barn daily, breakfast and dinner Mon-Thursday and a clean comfy bed to crash each night! Think about how much you can take back to your barn and apply.
Interested? Complete this application and check the four-day immersion option. We will reach out to you personally to help create a customized program experience.
Details
Cost $900
It begins on a Monday and goes through Friday.
“I wish I had these learning opportunities when I first started my program! I had my basic certification but was hungry for practical and sound skills and business strategies in which to grow my business so I could actually make a living! ” Thank you to all the HorseWork instructors! I left the workshop and within one month, I had a contract with a school and had written two funded grants!: Top-notch instruction that gave me a college education in a nutshell!”
Facilitation Intensive
2023 Dates TBD-
HorseWork Education is very excited to offer this training that will provide you the opportunity to advance your facilitation skills. This intensive training is solely focused on facilitation techniques essential to equine-assisted learning and therapy practice. Over the three days we will cover:
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- Theoretical foundations and developing the language to talk about EAL
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- Foundation of experiential education
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- What is the difference between facilitation and instruction
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- Facilitation practice, feedback, and direct experience
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- Activities purposefully designed to benefit different populations
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- Designing activities from the horse’s point of view
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- Understanding competencies and scope of work
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- Understanding how to shift the energy of both clients and horses
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- Understanding the roles when facilitating solo or with education, mental health or professional development professional
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- Practice sessions suited for an educational setting, mental health setting, and a corporate training setting.
You will also receive many additional resources, activities, and ideas to apply as soon as you get home. By the time the training is over, you will have a firm understanding of the foundations of equine-assisted learning and therapy. You will also have experienced facilitating in education, coaching and a corporate environment.
This training is great for the advanced equine specialist, therapeutic riding instructors, teachers, mental health providers and other professionals that are interested in providing equine-assisted learning.
This training is approved for the following PATH CEUs:
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- ES-MH/L Core- 34 credits
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- Disability Education-34 credits
There is nothing more frustrating with paying a lot of hard-earned money for a workshop and leave not really feeling you can go and do the work! We make certain that you can hit the ground running with all the practical tools, resources and new skills you need. This workshop also includes one on one coaching time with Debbie or Blair to address your specific questions. If you have any questions about this workshop, contact us for more information. We are happy to help and offer discounts for people who sign up together. Or if you are ready to register, please call 317-838-7002 to complete you registration over the phone.
Fees $750