Valley Farm OWL CIC

Who We Help, Why We Help & the Difference It Makes

What We Do

Equine Facilitated Learning uses interactions with horses to facilitate change. It is a forward-focused approach, and is not intended to replace counselling or psychotherapy where that would be more appropriate. It focuses on body and self-awareness. This then leads on to developing skills in a wide range of areas and is tailored to suit your needs. Here are some of the areas in which we work.

Chronic Illness​

Adjusting to life with a chronic illness can be hard. We can work with you to develop and improve techniques for managing your health. We look at how your emotional health and physical health may be connected, developing your awareness of how the two impact on each other. Sessions with the horses teach you how to listen to your body and the signals it is giving you so that you can make adjustments before major problems arise.Sessions may examine how your health is impacting on your relationships, supporting you to have healthy relationships where you can communicate effectively. Other topics may include coping strategies, relaxation techniques, future life plans and prioritising tasks.

Personal

We can help with:

• self-esteem and confidence​ - sessions looking at giving you greater confidence across your life or in specific situations.
  
• relationship skills - exploring how you relate to and communicate with people e.g. your children, spouse or work colleagues​
  
• emotional resilience - helping you develop techniques to sustain you through difficult situations​
  

Children

We work with children to support them in developing emotional literacy or to focus on specific challenges they are struggling with. We can focus on areas such as emotion recognition and management, improving confidence and self esteem and support for the transition to year seven or other new environments.

Christian

We work with clients to help them develop greater self-awareness and emotional intelligence. We can explore how you relate to God and other people, including communication and listening style. We can also look at developing your skills in areas such as problem solving, resilience and confidence. Sessions may be particularly suitable for interns, where we can look at what you want to achieve and support you closely during your internship.

Why Horses?

As herd and prey animals, horses are heavily reliant on each other's body language to communicate and stay safe. This includes not just posture and movements, but also heart rate and breathing. Horses pick up on the tiniest of cues and will notice and respond to things that we aren't aware of. To stay safe in the wild, horses have to respond rapidly to each other's emotional state, communicated through physical cues. They are therefore highly effective at providing immediate feedback on not just our intentional actions, but also our underlying beliefs and emotions.

Session Format

During an EFL session, the client is guided through exercises and interactions with the horses. How the client and the horses respond is then discussed, enabling the client to gain a greater understanding of themselves, the way they act and the impact that has on others. Clients can choose to focus on particular skills they would like to develop or simply aim for improved self-awareness.

Corporate

We work with you to develop your leadership and team work skills. Working with horses highlights your preferred leadership style, and how you can adapt it to suit the needs of your team. By learning to communicate effectively with the horses, you can increase your emotional intelligence and improve your interpersonal relationship

Volunteer

Volunteering

Wednesday mornings, come and help with land maintenance. This is often the very unglamourous job of poo-picking, removing horse manure from the yards and fields; but can also include mending fences, weeding, making 'tree hay' and other activities to contribute to the development of the site.

Fundraising

Please support us with identifying suitable funding opportunities and writing grant applications

Events

We always welcome help organising events for the wider public such as herb walks and bushcraft sessions.

Community Trail