The Connection Focused Therapy® model, a research-based, polyvagal informed, equine-facilitated therapy modality has been attracting international attention. As a result of high demand, the program’s founders Dr. Rebecca Bailey and Linda Kohanov have decided to add four additional spaces to their CFT workshop in Germany — April 28th through May 2nd — https://eponaquest.com/workshop/healing-the-herd-connection-focused-therapy-for-therapists-and-other-professionals-working-with-trauma-survivors-and-families-in-crisis-2/. The two will also lead one more CFT training in the United States in 2020 in Greenfield, MN (near Minneapolis) — July 17th through July 21st — https://eponaquest.com/workshop/healing-the-herd-connection-focused-therapy-for-therapists-and-other-professionals-working-with-trauma-survivors-and-families-in-crisis-3/.
The program held in Arizona earlier this month also sold out and received rave reviews from the therapists, teachers and horse professionals who attended. Here’s what they had to say:
This workshop is invaluable for all Mental Health Professionals, with, or without any horse or animal experience. It is a comprehensive and cutting-edge approach to not only Mental Health Well-Being but our interconnectivity to each other and our world.
– Gretchen Lyons
The Connection Focused Therapy workshop provided the balanced combination of didactic and experiential lessons I needed to absorb the valuable material presented. I gained valuable knowledge with co-facilitators Linda Kohanov and Dr. Rebecca Bailey and the horses daily! I have rich evidence-based material to utilize with a variety of populations in my private practice. I am a seasoned practitioner and I took away a framework of interventions to enhance and even accelerate my practice with clients with trauma alongside my equine co-therapists! Thank you!
– Dr. Christina Strayer
Very important info for anyone utilizing horses in therapeutic practice and/or deepening understanding of the physiological process of healing and regulation.
– Fabi Vlchek
For everyone around school, it’s so important. First, because we have a lot of traumatized kids, or kids always being dysregulated. Second, it would be so useful for teachers (or those who want to become teachers) to become more aware of how they are influenced by all the nonverbal things from their kids – and how they influence through their – sometimes dysregulated system – the kids!
It should be a core competency for all to know about and to learn how to practice self-regulation, including the polyvagal theory. The combination with the master herder and the sentient communication was for me like the missing piece of the puzzle for my work as an Epona Instructor.
– Vici Mertens
Absolutely!
These workshops have allowed me to reach higher levels of understanding my communication with animals and humans. I truly wish I had this information, knowledge, and skills many years ago. Most helpful and interesting to find ways of in-depth understanding and communication skills we don’t learn growing up.
– Patricia Granger
The Connection Focused Therapy workshop has expanded my awareness and taken my ability to negotiate social structures to another level. The program offered me additional tools to be part of the healing process for mankind, and in turn all living beings. I can be the proverbial tiny source of a ripple effect.
– Micheline Maes
My first experience at Eponaquest. Absolutely transformational from beginning to end. People think – horses feel. I learned how to think more like a horse and it helped me to feel so much better about being a person. No matter what level of education or experience that you come in with, you leave feeling truly enlightened by the experience!
– Linda Aldrich
I would absolutely recommend this course to anyone interested in learning how to effectively incorporate equine interventions into their mental health scope of practice. The CFT framework is comprehensive and is paired with tangible experiential interventions to start working with clients immediately.
– Sarah Jones