Who is it for?
Those with additional needs
Those with EHCP’s, IDP’s or EOTAS
Disengaged children and young people
Adverse childhood experiences and trauma
Excluded or at risk of exclusion
Social Work referrals
Post 16 NEET, not in education, employment or training
Youth service, mentoring service referrals
Electively home educated children and young adults
Emotionally and anxiety based non school attendance
When the classroom stops working, step into the great outdoors’
How do we do it?
Equine and Animal Therapy for education is how we do it!
A flexible & innovative centre to a needs-led support placement. By Supporting LCC’s Alternative Provision strategy (2023-2026) main key principles and targeting preventative support in children and young people we can help reduce the risks of exclusion and increase the number of young people in education, employment and training.
Sessions are adapted and bespoke just for you. One to one sessions are desirable, although group sessions, where suitable, can be accommodated. It is for anyone and everyone.
Whether you are looking for something to help re-engage a child or formal qualifications, we can help children and young people achieve their aspirations.
Monitoring & Evaluation
We have a standard Monitoring & Evaluation protocol for all our participants, we use The Horse Course, who are a world leader in well-evidenced high impact equine-assisted interventions, Skills Star to track the distance travelled in the eight areas we work on directly during the course. We collect data at 3 time points:
Professional referrer pre-intervention
During a reflective session between participant and facilitator at the end of the intervention
Professional referrer 2 months post-intervention
We also follow up at 2 months post regarding 4 intermediate outcomes:
improved attendance and engagement with school/training/work
improved relationships
reduced problem behaviours
greater self belief
Immediate Outcomes
Engagement (Confidence as a Learner) – enthusiastically taking on new challenges, pushing limits whilst also taking care of own confidence
Responsibility – taking responsibility for our own thoughts, emotions and actions
Calmness – having the habit of calmness and knowing how to create it in difficult situations
Assertiveness – able to be calmly assertive, without getting aggressive or upset
Realistic Analysis & Planning – Stopping to think before acting, making a realistic assessment of situations and planning accordingly
Focus & Perseverance – working towards goals despite setbacks
Relating to Others / Empathy – seeing the needs of others, offering care and support, feeling closely connected
Communicaion & Language – two way, respectful, assertive communications, having language to talk about thinking and emotions
What are the benefits?
Interacting with horses offers valuable lessons in social dynamics, trust-building, and leadership.
The day to day care of looking after another being creates natural responsibility, perseverance and confidence in ourselves.
Horsemanship skills can decrease irritability and increase social communication and social motivation.
Physical tasks like handling horses will increase balance, strength and co-ordination and help us regulate effectively.
Nurturing essential life skills as well as integrated numeracy, literacy and science in a fulfilling and constructive way for anyone disengaged, ADHD, ASD and/or other complex issues.
Record keeping, monitoring a horses weight, diet and pasture management has a range of skills and academic learning along the way, both in literacy and numeracy.
Being outdoors has been shown to lower stress, blood pressure and heart rate, while boosting mood and improving mental health.
And whether you're walking, running or caring for a horse, being outside is increasingly being prescribed by health professionals to enhance people's wellbeing. The list is endless.