If you are involved in the fields of medicine, health care or disabilities services, these workshops are for you.
The Professionals workshop series provides a unique opportunity for hands-on practice of the skills necessary for developing more positive, trusting and respectful relationships with your clients. You will come to better understand how your behaviours, communication style, and perspective influence the behaviours of your clients and the relationships you form with them.
You will learn to:

Understand the importance and power of non-verbal body language in communication. Become aware of the messages you may be sending and learn to read your client’s messages.

Recognize and respect the personal boundaries of others. Establish your own boundaries. (A necessity for establishing and maintaining objective professional conduct.)

Work “in the moment” with clients, by improving your attention and focus, so you can truly listen to what they are trying to communicate.

Develop your own self-confidence by strengthening your existing skills, as well as developing new skills.

Horses provide immediate, unfiltered feedback. Feedback that your clients, are often unable to give you.
Horses react to what people do, including body language, not what they say. A person’s body language is a true indicator of their thoughts and emotions. Inattention, indifference, impatience or aggression will trigger an observable, undisguised response in the horse.
Analyzing the horse’s response enables you to judge the effectiveness of your actions. As you develop each new skill, the horse’s responses will change immediately.

These workshops are available as a one-day workshop for 6–20 people.

The Lead Horse Professional Workshops

Understanding Behaviour
For students or professionals providing support, services or programs to people with disabilities.

“Behaviour never occurs in a vacuum. It is the end result of the interaction between the child and their environment, and that environment includes the people in it. If you want to change the behaviour of the child, first look at your own. You might be surprised by what you see.”
Temple Grandin – The Way I See It

Behaviour is communication. When our clients are non-verbal or have poor language skills or social issues we must learn to interpret their intentions through their body language and their actions. Concurrently we need to realize that our attitudes and behaviours in turn affect our clients. We must at all times demonstrate respect, patience, reassurance, empathy and honesty.
Understanding Behavour teaches participants to interpret and utilize non-verbal communication to build honest open and respectful relationships with clients
The result: You will improve your non-verbal communications skills to encourage and support positive behavior in your clients (and yourself!).

A Different Perspective

For students and professionals who work with people who have ASD.

“Autistic people can think the way animals think. I think animal genius happens for the same reason that autism genius does: a difference in the brain autistic people share with animals.”
Temple Grandin – Animals in Translation

Horses and people with autism interpret the world around them from a sensory-based, detail-oriented perspective. Workshop participants observe and interpret their horse’s behavior as they respond instinctively to their environment. The challenge is to determine which behaviours are sensory-based and which have been learned and reinforced.
The result: You will be able to pro-actively adapt your client’s surroundings and your own behavior management techniques to create a safe and supportive learning environment.

Select Text Size