Many children who experience a break in the first three years of their lives will react by coming hyper-aroused. This puts them into their brain stem and kicks in the fight or flight response. Children who experience a prolonged about or trauma will teach their brains to stay in that hyper arousal, will miss read cues, and react to their circumstances in a negative manner.
Adoption Learning Partners in Evanston, IL, (http://www.adoptionlearningpartners.org/) and Heart of the Matter Seminars in Lee’s Summit, MO (http://www.heartofthematterseminars.com/) have some amazing online courses. These courses are for both parents and professions.
Orphans from Haiti will be going through some difficult times stemming from the trauma they have just experienced and simply because they are coming to a new country. Some of the children will even need to learn the language (please see the services of 24/7 Therapeutic Parenting Support) and some will be very surprised by the weather. All the changes would be difficult for a child coming from a safe and secure environment, but for a child that is originating from severe trauma, there are certain considerations that must be made.
First, these children will often appear compliant. It might seem like they are handling their new surroundings, but some of these children are dissociating. Signs of dissociation are disengaged, compliant, numb, de-realization, and possibly fainting. Some children will be described as having “petit mal” epileptic episodes (or absence seizures), but in reality they are dissociating. They will be seen as simply staring off into the distance. They will progress along the spectrum of calm, vigilance, alarm, fear, and terror. These children dissociate because they could not escape their situations. They do not go through the fight or flight, but slip into the freeze response. Young children and females tend to dissociate more than older children and males. It will also depend on how long they were exposed to the trauma that they could not escape. They will more often than not, have physical health problems more than mental health problems.
When a child dissociates and is staring into space the best thing to do is to be non-intrusive. Go quiet and simply be close to the child. A gentle back rub or soft singing will help. Speaking loudly or quick movements will not help them and could keep them in their dissociative state for a longer period of time.
If these children are not helped and supported they are more likely to develop long term trauma related systems in not being able to handle the normal amount of stress that the average person lives with. This can lead to a number of physical ailments and the use of substances in order to find the “calm” they are seeking.
Shalom Camp will be a unique experience for families that have recently brought home orphans from Haiti. The camp is run by a native French speaker who can assist with some of the language difficulties that families find themselves in. Ms. Sherwood is available through her 24/7 Phone Coaching Program (please see below) and unique camp experiences to bond family member to each other. Please note that the professionals at Shalom Camp will be fully prepared to help you with your new child from Haiti.
24/7 Therapeutic Parenting Support Do you need help now? Are you frustrated with how your difficult child is running your home?
If you answered yes to both these questions, then you need support. Marie Sherwood is a Certified Advanced Parenting Trainer through Families by Design and has studied extensively under Nancy Thomas. She has been director of two family camps and equine director at three camps. She has seventeen years experience with difficult kids and is the mother of a healed RAD child. In short, she understands your situation. She is also a PhD candidate in Psychology working toward becoming an Attachment Psychologist.
24/7 Therapeutic Parenting Support allows you to have Marie Sherwood on-call any time of the day. She will provide you with a toll free number and a cell phone number so you can get a hold of her day or night.
How much does all this cost? Marie Sherwood only takes on 10 families at a time. In this way, she can provide the needed services and attention that families need. You reserve Marie Sherwood for a three month period for $160 USD up front. The charge for the first hour is $60, with subsequent hours costing $80 USD, with billing being done on a monthly basis.
Please email Marie for more information: Marie@LongFacesHappyHearts.com.
Many programs are set up for only the child, but Shalom Camp understands that the family unit is affected by the difficult child. The attachment techniques taught at the camp help the whole family come together as a unit, in addition to providing the parents with the unique tools needed to help these children down their healing journey. The camp has the privilege of having Nancy Thomas at its helm. Ms. Thomas has over thirty years of working with some of America’s most violent children. She boasts over 85% success rate with this population; these numbers are unheard of in the industry. This is the only camp in Canada that is privileged to have Ms. Thomas’ savvy techniques in how to deal with difficult behavior on a daily basis, in addition to helping these precious children fully heal.
Shalom Camp also has a separate program for the siblings of the difficult child. This program addresses the struggles and frustrations of living with a difficult child. The siblings work through experiential exercises with the horses of Long Faces and Happy Hearts Equestrian Centre. This week long program is set up as a fun cowboy/cowgirl camp, but has a therapeutic purpose. The work follows the empirically proven Equine Partners in Counselling (EPIC: http://www.kaytrotter.com/epic.htm) program developed by Dr. Kay Trotter and is the only empirically (quantitative research) proven program running in all of Canada and one of a handful in the United States. The quantitative research that has proven the usefulness of horses (Russell-Martin, 2006; Schultz, Remick-Barlow, & Robbins, 2007; Trotter, Chandler, Goodwin-Bond, & Casey, 2008) is so limited and recent that many programs have not had a chance to update their curriculum. At Shalom Camp, we have closely monitored the research and bring you the latest and best proven methods.
The difficult children also benefit from the presence of the horses by taking part in the Equine Facilitated/Experiential Bonding program with their parents. This program is unique to the difficulties that are particular to displaced children and their families. EF/EB uses the theories of Dr. Bruce Perry (among others) by targeting different parts of the brain in order to help the brain heal itself. This program is only available in Colorado and Saskatchewan with Marie Sherwood of Long Faces and Happy Hearts being the creator. Ms. Sherwood is also a PhD candidate that continues to do research into the best practices to heal families with difficult children.
Training in Colorado:
Advance your skills in Equine Assisted Therapy with Emotionally Disturbed Children
Join the best of the US:
Terena Thomas CEIP-ED
Registered NARHA instructor
and
The best of Canada
Marie Sherwood, EFEBT
PhD candidate
And Child Whisperer and Author
Nancy Thomas
April 29 – May 14, 2010
Eagle Colorado
Families by Design is hosting this program that uses empirically proven theories and methods, in addition to industry knowledge gleaned from top researchers and professionals in the field. This training will be hosted at the Snowkist and Riverquest Ranches in the beautiful Colorado Rocky Mountains. This course will provide one week of intensive training with Terena and Nancy Thomas and Marie Sherwood, followed by a full week of working with actual clients.
This intensive hands-on course is limited to the eight top applicants. Those chosen will participate and enhance skill levels in helping challenging children. This power-packed training will guide you and build your skill level to create or advance your own horse program to help challenging children. These skilled instructors have been helping severely emotionally disturbed children for many years. They have a high success rate in making a difference in the lives of children with:
ADD, ADHD, Aspergers, Attachment Disorder, Autism, Bi Polar Disorder, Depression, ODD, PTSD, RAD, and Tourette’s Syndrome.
These lessons are designed to help with:
Aggression, Attachment, Attention, Balance, Behavior, Compliance, Coordination, Courage, Listening, Proprioception, Sensory Integration, Self image, and Small and Gross motor skills.
Terena Thomas will begin the training with three and a half days of instructing. She joined with her equine partners to work with high-risk children over 20 years ago. She began creating a specialized therapeutic riding program in 1988 for her troubled foster siblings, and almost a decade later, became a registered riding instructor with NARHA. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree with a major in Psychology from the University of Colorado and, as an honor student, conducted research to verify the effectiveness of her riding program. She has been independently tested and certified by the Certification Board of Equine Interaction Professionals- Education (CEIP-ED). Terena has traveled throughout the U.S. and Australia teaching her techniques and implementing her program. She is the author of It’s Not Just Horsing Around With Defiant Kids.
Terena has operated Hooves for the Heart, LLC since 1997.
Marie Sherwood will instruct the following three and a half days. She teamed up with her equine partners 30 years ago. Using current research, the amazing curly horse and a fun atmosphere Marie has create Equine Facilitated/Experiential Bonding. Her methods are based on the work of Dr. Bruce Perry, Dr. Bessel van der Kolk, Daniel Amen MD, and John Bowlby MD. Her methods help encourage children to reach out and depend on their parent. At the same time the child is strengthening neural pathways, releasing somatic memory and having fun. This is a lively and informative course! She has seventeen years experience with emotionally disturbed children and runs a successful Equine Facilitated/Experiential Bonding program at her ranch in Canada, Long Faces and Happy Hearts Equestrian Centre. In addition, Marie hosts an annual family camp for trouble youth and their families where her Curly Horses take center stage helping them bond. She is CHA certified, Certified Advanced Parenting Instructor, a PhD candidate, and is completing her NARHA certification.
Marie and Terena, with their incredible horse programs, have touched hundreds of lives, from boy soldiers of Africa, to orphans from China and Russia, to the abused children of America and Canada.
Nancy Thomas, Therapeutic Parent, author, international speaker and child whisperer will then share two days of training in understanding the brain of traumatized children and interventions to help them heal. This in-depth understanding and skill building is necessary for appropriate and successful interaction with troubled children.
The families with challenging children will be packed and coming! They are joining us for an exciting week at the beautiful Anderson camp to begin the healing process. Those eight chosen applicants will then be guided by Marie, Terena and Nancy as they use the techniques and hone their skill level actually helping the children as they go through the equine program.
Tuition of $3775 per participant includes:
- A full manual on the top Canadian equestrian assisted bonding program
- A book and set of DVD’s on the top US equestrian assisted treatment program.
- 9 nights lodging at Snowkist Ranch, plus
- 7 nights lodging at Anderson Ranch
- All home cooked nutritious meals
- 7 days of skill building class with Marie Sherwood and Terena Thomas & horses (see back page for Course Content)
- 2 days of insight training with Nancy Thomas, plus
- 6 days of hands-on internship with families and emotionally disturbed children
Come join us in the heart of the Colorado Rockies. Applications must be received by April 3. Selection will be completed by April 5. Nancy, Terena and Marie believe we can make a difference with these tough kids and created this dynamic program to make it
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happen. Their vision is to help the children and it is contagious. Catch it, apply to join us!
Application for Advancing Skills in Equine Assisted Therapy
with Emotionally Disturbed Children
Name_____________________________________________________________
Address____________________________________________________________
City _________________State__________Country_____________Zip__________
Phone_________________Phone________________email___________________
Experience with Horses________________________________________________
Experience with Children_________________________________________________
Your age________Do you own a horse now?________in the past?_________________
Further information to help us decide your suitability for this program______________
Application deadline is April 3. Top 8 applicants will be selected and contacted by April 5.
Please mail to Families by Design, PO Box 2812, Glenwood Springs, CO USA 81602
or fax to 970 524 4114 or email to ncthomas@rof.net
Course Content:
-difference between facilitation, experiential, and assisted activities
-the science behind difficult children
-methods and activities for Equine Assisted Learning
-methods and activities for Equine Facilitated/Experiential Bonding
-methods and activities to work with stressed parents of difficult children
-what is going on in the brains of difficult kids
-equine activities to access those parts of the brain
-foundational counseling theories for EFMH (CBT, Choice Theory, Gestalt, Person-centered, Family Systems Theory, experiential learning, etc.)
-Development and understanding of relational horsemanship skills and awareness.
-Identification and application of these skills within the practice of EFMH counseling services
-Exploration and understanding the role of the horse, horse behavior and how it relates to facilitation skills in a counseling session
-Cultivation, demonstration and articulation of ethical/compassionate treatment and relations with horses: keeping your equine therapists regulated and calm
-basic business plan, how to write up a mission statement, set goals, and objectives
-basic paperwork for your program
-basic fundraising techniques
Internships will provide:
-opportunity to develop treatment plans based on client profiles and design and implement activities that match the treatment goals.
-work with clients within a crisis situation
Families come from all over the world. We have had children as young as two months old to sixteen years old. There are programs for non-RAD siblings in the form of an equine program and a waterfront program. Electronic games are not permitted at camp and teens are welcome to join our waterfront program.
The camp is to build family bonding for the whole family and we have fun whole family activities. The facilities has a beautiful lake and campfire location where we have a great time getting to know each other.
The food is nutritious and delicious and cooked with love. Our cooks are imported from Texas and have a beautiful heart for the families they serve.
We saw little miracles all week. We laughed and cried with our families as we witnessed the bonding that so many parents had longed for. All but one child made the decision to bond to their parents. We are still praying that this child makes that decision.
Our equine staff worked hard mirroring the family dynamics, giving healed children rides and equine facilitated bonding. We salut our horses: Mac, Jolie, Gretchen, Pawnee, and Tulsa. Everyone loved their gentle nurturing spirits. We salut those moms that overcame their fear of horses to ride, bond and learn from these great creatures. I big kudo to awesome mom Linda.
I want to thank the hard working staff who bonded as a team in order to help the parents and children turn their hearts toward each other. Sis and Brad, thank you so much for the great meals. I want to thank the following people:
Miss Nancy
Mr. James
Miss Anna
Miss Raychel
Miss Melissa
Miss Robbin
Miss Judy
Miss Dana
Miss Kelli
Mr. Scott
Miss Chantelle
Miss Debra Lee
Miss Jordan
Part-time staff: Miss Adriana
You all contributed to the success of the camp.
Signed:
Miss Marie
Camp Director
shaleta Royster