ROCKY VIEW— Helping aid in the process of healing from post-traumatic stress injuries, Prairie Sky Equine Assisted Therapy is harnessing the power of horses to provide aid to individuals facing physical, emotional and social adversity.
Prairie Sky president and equine facilitator Jessica van der Hoek founded the non-profit 10 years ago.
The ranch provides equine-assisted therapy to adults and young people with special needs, at-risk youth and first responders and military personal with post-traumatic stress injuries.
“We provide a fun and safe environment where people can experience the benefits of working with horses,” van der Hoek said.
The program centred on post-traumatic stress injury recovery for first responders and military personal launched a few weeks ago. The program is of no cost for participants.
The post-traumatic stress disorder program is co-facilitated by a first responder and psychologist in a safe space which makes it unique, van der Hoek said.
“You will be very cared for and you will be very safe. You will be working with people who have gone through you have gone through and understand,” van der Hoek said. “You just have to show up exactly as you are. We will meet you where you’re at because we were there, we needed somebody to meet us where we were at.”
Over three weeks clients will participate in six sessions and have the option to connect for after-care and peer-support at Wayfinders Wellness Retreat upon the program's completion.
Hillary Sharpe, a psychologist with Prairie Sky, said the goal is to open the program up to as many first responders as possible, especially given the adversity they have faced during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Sharpe said in her private practice there has been a sharp uptick in those seeking support, especially from first responders including nurses, police and others experiencing burnout.
“Crisis after crisis, trauma after trauma. I think it can really build-up,” Sharpe said. “I can’t think of a better recipe for stirring that up than COVID.”
The Prairie Sky post-traumatic stress disorder program has been in the works for about three or four years, and it was amazing to see the plan come to fruition, Sharpe said.
The experience of working with horses is special for first responders because to engage in the type of work they do there is often a need to repress emotions when responding to crises. Horses break this cycle and help participants actively engage with their complex feeling and experiences.
Horses break this cycle and help participants actively engage with their feelings and experiences.
Counselling offers an opportunity to unpack these complex experiences and feelings, Sharpe said. Group counselling serves as a way to validate and normalize their experiences because they are shared by others in the group.
“You don’t have to worry about explaining yourself because you're already with a bunch of other first responders who already understand where you are at,” Sharpe said. “Equine facilitated counselling is really special because it really combines these different sorts of therapy— It’s talk therapy, it’s animal-assisted therapy, it’s nature therapy as well, its movement. There’s a lot that’s happening."
Horses are incredible to work with, she said, because the animals are highly a-tuned to their environment and the creatures within it. This helps participants become a-tuned to themselves because horses often mirror back a person’s internal state.
“This forces us to confront ourselves and our emotions,” Sharpe said. "On top of that to work effectively with them [horses] we need to figure out a way to communicate with them. The sort of work people do with horses goes beyond verbal communications."
Clients work with the horses and run through grooming, groundwork, obstacle courses and other activities centred around clients acting as a support for the horse.
“There’s something really special that happens with the horses and the people. It’s not just about the person and their trauma, it’s more about the person. The horse doesn’t know what you’ve been through they just respond in the moment which forces us to respond in the moment as well,” Sharpe said,
The majority of people who visit the ranch have no equine experience, van der Hoek said, and the programs offer a chance to find out how amazing working with horses can be.
“Horses are incredibly emotionally intelligent … They’re able to read the energy that comes off of people. They also can read many, many facial expressions,” van der Hoek said. “They’re really good at reading us when we can’t read ourselves.”
Van der Hoek knows firsthand the power of working with horses. She is an advanced care paramedic who was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder in 2011.
Her way of coping with the trauma was to create a place that fostered a sense of community, hope and happiness— From this idea Prairie Sky was born.
“I was one of those kids that came out of my mother's womb loving horses,” van der Hoek said with a laugh. “There was never a time in my life where I didn’t want a horse.”
She was put in riding lessons and 4-H gaining some horse-riding experience before Prairie Sky, and that knowledge has only grown over the past 10 years.
It has been an amazing experience bringing her passions together to help people heal, she said.
“I wanted a place to go for people and myself where they could be at peace and prosper and thrive,” van der Hoek said.
The organization is looking for volunteers to work in the special needs programming, although this program is on pause during increased COVID-19 health measures.
The pandemic has also impacted the charity because they have been unable to host their typical fundraisers.
For more information visit Prairie Sky, the programs or ways to support the non-profit email [email protected].
