Children and horses - local social workers believe this natural combination may be an alternative link in the chain that helps children succeed at therapy.

South Central Health District Community Health Services has approved a two-week pilot project, beginning July 10, that will give social workers and parents a chance to see if equine-assisted psychotherapy could be of some benefit to local children.

Six younger children will receive equine therapy at a day camp for the first week, with parents participating on the last day. The same schedule will be followed for older children the next week. The idea for this project came about when social worker Jeannette Galarneau, who owns three miniature horses and a Welsh pony, realized how she felt when caring for her animals after work.

"I knew how relaxed and calm it made me feel," said Galarneau. "I wondered what would happen if I could bring clients there."

Galarneau and co-facilitator Mark Penny held a one-day camp that indicated equine therapy could produce positive results. Working with a few kids on an individual basis, Galarneau says they were impressed with the changes brought about by a different setting.

"When they were taken out of an office setting, we were able to hold their attention and see they were able to focus better, which is a great improvement," she said. "I guess the majority of the parents saw great benefit to the kids' self-esteem and confidence and saw their communication and social skills improve from the therapy.

"One of the challenges of this is we don't really have a model, so Mark and I developed one. This was fairly time-consuming. It was interesting how things fall in place."

Equine-assisted therapy involves a lot of hands-on exercises for the children. About 90 per cent of the therapy is done on the ground, with the focus taken away from riding or horsemanship. While Galarneau could research many programs using horses for physical therapy, there was a lack of information about it for psychotherapy.

To address this, Galarneau and Nathalie Berard of the South East Health District recently attended a three-day training session in Saint Paul, Minneapolis. She received a Level I certification in equine-assisted psychotherapy from program founder Greg Kersten, an addictions counselor, and Lynn Thomas, a certified social worker. Both are based in Utah.

Galarneau said the training was intense and focused on bonding exercises.

Student social worker Maureen Nast will join Galarneau and Penny to assist with the program, which has been well-received by parents. An additional three miniature horses will be involved in the pilot project so each child has a horse. Only after the project has been thoroughly evaluated by the children and parents involved in the camps will any consideration be made about future programming.