Superintendent Ken Facin of the Hoosick Falls Central School (HFCS) and his team have entered into a new phase of the Social/Emotional Education program they are developing at HFCS. [private]In addition to the mindful education programs that have already been implemented, Facin and his team hope to positively impact students’ social/emotional growth through introduction of a program that uses horses to help students grow emotionally. Facin calls it the EAGALA model. EAGALA is an international nonprofit organization called Equine Assisted Growth And Learning Association, which serves as a facilitator for professionals who are incorporating horses into their work in mental health and personal development.
These professionals have developed therapy techniques using horses that have been effective for many participants in developing self awareness, better communication and other personal growth benefits – interaction with the horses seems to break through emotional logjams in a way that more conventional talk therapy can’t.
The EAGALA Model is known to generate a positive impact on how students view themselves, enabling the student to make the necessary changes to adapt to natural and environmental stressors. The new program at HFCS will assist student participants to better understand themselves through nonverbal, behavioural, and body language communication with horses.
Facin and his team have researched equine assisted growth and therapy programs, and witnessed first hand the way that horses, being extremely sensitive to their environment, instinctively respond to body language and nonverbal cues, establishing a non-verbal communication with people that can be very therapeutic.
In their pilot test, Facin and his team brought a group of teachers and students to Higher Ground Farms on Tate Road in Hoosick Falls, the farm that has been selected to be the new program’s home. While there, each group was asked to interact with the horses. The results were astounding. Jamie Zeihm the owner of Higher Ground Farms said, “It was amazing to watch students and faculty come here shy and reserved and then in a short time open up with the horses. You could feel the connections being made.”
Ziehm and her husband built the farm back in 2005-2006. Tying in to the farm’s serene nature, it is also aesthetically pleasing with its rolling hills and views from three states – New York, Massachusetts, and Vermont. Zeihm said there are over twenty horses on the farm, but just five of them, including Tinman, Snake and Miracle Man, have been selected to be used for the program. She agreed that a program such as this will bring an entirely new form of social and emotional growth to the students of Hoosick Falls Central.
The EAGALA Model will be offered to the entire student population through the physical education department at HFCS. The professional team will consist of a physical education teacher, a certified equine communications therapist, and a school based clinician. Facin said that this program will allow students the opportunity to be supported through a kind of social/emotional therapy that often works when talk therapy does not.
Facin said he and his team are currently working to set up a non-profit organization independent from the school district to offer the equine therapy. He said managing the program in this way will create a sustainable program. More information on The EAGALA Model is available at the organization’s website at www.eagala,org. [/private]