Resilience Building With Horses
Prepare your children to take on the challenges that life throws at them. Children and adolescents who are resilient believe in their ability to affect their life’s course and are better able to adapt to challenging situations and bounce back after experiencing difficulties and hardships. Resilience is a skill that can be learned and strengthened through group intervention. Our experiential programs are educational and are designed for youth to acquire strength-based life skills such as effective communication, enhanced problem solving, a better understanding of body language, respecting personal boundaries among others.
1)Resilience Builders Horse Camp
Ages 9-12
July 12-16
10:00-12:00
Fee: $750 – A portion of this fee may be covered under your extended health benefits.
Skills taught in this camp include: Communication, Active Listening and Articulation, Body Language, Appropriate Assertiveness and Problem Solving.
Includes: 1-hour intake session with Stacey Adelman M.Ed. R. Psychologist to gather pertinent background information and learn more about your child. This session will be booked at a time that works best for you and Stacey. This intake session helps us better understand your child, and tailor an individualized program to best meet the needs of your child.
Final Report: You will receive a final report outlining the skills your child worked on, strategies that seemed to work well, and how your child progressed through the program.
Evening Homework: the more we can transfer and generalize strategies to different locations and situations, the better. Your child will be given challenges to practice each night at home with you.
2) Resilience Builders Horse Camp
Ages 13-15
July 12-16
1:00-3:00
Fee: $750 – A portion of this fee may be covered under your extended health benefits.
Skills taught in this camp include: Leadership, Goal Setting, Trust, Self Esteem and Personal Power
Includes a 1-hour intake session with Stacey Adelman M.Ed. R. Psychologist to gather pertinent background information and learn more about your child. This session will be booked at a time that works best for you and Stacey. This intake session helps us better understand your child so we can tailor an individualized program to best meet their needs.
Final Report: You will receive a final report outlining the skills your child worked on, strategies that seemed to work well, and how your child progressed through the program.
Evening Homework: the more we can transfer and generalize strategies to different locations and situations, the better. Your child will be given challenges to practice each night at home with you.
Why horses?
Horses understand how to differentiate between potentially threatening behaviour and calm and assertive nature. Through the power of experiential learning, your children and adolescents will learn how to modify their behaviour through sets of exercises that will remain with them for the rest of their lives. This type of teaching cannot be delivered in a classroom. It is the experience of being in close contact with horses that has the most effect on young people. Each lesson is designed to maximize learning potential and focus on developing individual skills as they work through each fun interactive group challenge.
The power of the horse is the relationships we make with them. Through this connection, we engage the body, mind and spirit of both the horse and the person.
Are We Riding?
No. We only work with the horses from the ground so they can respond as naturally as possible. The participants will become team members with their horse which promotes equality, trust and the ability to build a relationship on level ground.
Does my child need experience with horses?
No prior experience is necessary. We will teach all participants the basics of working with these majestic animals in a safe and exciting way.
What should my child wear?
Your child should wear comfortable clothing, layers are great. No baggy or loose clothing is permitted in the arena with the animals. Horses are animals so you could get dusty and hairy so don’t wear your fanciest gear. For footwear, you don’t need cowboy boots or anything special – just closed-toed shoes. Shoes that close tightly work best as we are working with horses in the arena sand so you may get dirty socks and toes if you have loose shoes.