Recreational Therapy & Horses?
My name is Rachel and I am currently a senior majoring in Elementary education at Eastern Michigan University. Though I love the thought of working with kids, I feel like I can make a bigger difference as a therapist than as a teacher. I enjoy working with kids one-on-one, although I am not opposed to working with elderly adults either. I am looking at changing my major to recreational therapy and I was hoping all you CRTS (Certified Recreational Therapist Specialists) out there could answer a few questions for me.
I am particularly interested in Equine Assisted Therapy/psychotherapy. I was wondering if there are any CRTS out there who are involved in this field. If you are in this field, do you find your training as a recreational therapist helpful? What do you like most about your job? This last question is for all CRTS whether you have worked with horses or not. All are welcome to answer though!
Thanks in Advance!
Rachel
Posted in children psychotherapy
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January 8th, 2010 at 4:14 am
I was a secondary ed teacher and then volunteered in hippotherapy at several different stables. At one facility I worked with teenaged girls with behavior issues. The horses were invaluable as both a reward and a learning opportunity.
The best facility I worked at was owned by a former teacher and a psychologist and a nurse. They also employed a physical therapist part time and used many volunteers for lead walking and helping the riders balance.
If I were you I would look for facilities in your area where you can volunteer. It’s a wonderful way to be around kids and horses. I can promise you they’ll love your help and you’ll enjoy giving it!
January 8th, 2010 at 4:14 am
Actually, you are much more likely to come up with viable answers over in the pets>horse section.
I have asked a couple questions about horses and how they are used in Drug rehab over there and gotten some good responses from folks who were really knowledgeable on the subject.
Since you happen to be out there in ypsi - you might be able to talk to someone here, yeah, its a rehab, but its a working farm, and they happen to have residents that are under the age of 18 - so someone there might be able to tell you a little more about experiences of working with kids and animals
http://www.dawnfarm.org/index.html
January 13th, 2010 at 12:48 pm
Hello
I’m a family therapist from Finland and I’ve used horses in my therapy-work for some years now. I have also sensomotor psychotherapy training and I’m very interested in working more and more with the help of a horse. I’ve seen little miracles happening in my work every day – as you well know!
I’m coming to London 17.-21. March and I would very much like to visit some place near London where they use horses in psychotherapy – to learn more and to make contacts. In Finland there are not many who do this kind of therapy, but enough to invite some trainee’s or teachers to come around!
If you know to whom I should be in contact to, please let me know: anne.peltonen@pp3.inet.fi