Not all certifications are the same!

The field of Equine Assisted Psychotherapy and Learning is growing rapidly.  New trainings and certifications are springing up all over – and each is a little different.  When seeking your own training path there are some important considerations to be mindful of so that you get exactly what you need to do this work well – with integrity.  The founders of Natural Lifemanship have been offering EAP/L for over 3 decades, training and education for over 10 years, and in 2015 they launched a certification process…in all these years, Natural Lifemanship has learned A LOT about this field.  Doing quality EAP/L work is a complex and subtle process that is at its best when science, ethics, and experience all come together.  Join us for a 1 hour webinar where NL founders, Bettina Shultz-Jobe and Tim Jobe, will let you in on the most important things to consider when choosing a training and certification process.  There’s more to it than you think!

You have a vision for your future. One in which you build a successful business around Equine Assisted Therapy and Learning, that fulfills your desire to support people in need of healing. A business that provides consistent income to support you and your family, while you do what you love.  Shannon Knapp with Horse Sense of the Carolinas and Bettina Shultz-Jobe with Natural Lifemanship have found tremendous passion and success in helping equine-assisted practitioners just like YOU build businesses across the country and throughout the world!  Join them in this FREE webinar as they discuss the top five things you need to know to successfully build and run a business in this very unique field.

In part 3 of this 3 part series, Vanessa and Bonnie invite us to explore Difficult Conversations and Big Ideas: How do we begin to have healing conversations with each other?

Similar to parts 1 and 2, their conversation will be informal and unedited, open to how the conversation wants to unpredictably proceed and so probably messy at times, from the heart as well as the head, built on the care these two women have for each other, and their commitment to staying compassionately and fiercely engaged with this time in history on behalf of racial justice.

Vanessa, a Black woman, has 56 years of experience as a Black woman in this culture, 30 years of antiracist work and feminist work, a decade of studying interpersonal neurobiology, and two decades of shepherding the programs that support domestic violence and sexual assault survivors in Oregon.

Bonnie, a White woman, has 77 years of relative blindness to the effects of racism, 30 years of work with trauma survivors, 17 years of closely studying how to apply interpersonal neurobiology to counseling and daily life, three books about the application of relational neuroscience, and three months of immersion in racism and antiracism studies.

They met as Vanessa was endeavoring to bring relational neuroscience into advocacy and treatment for people emerging from domestic violence. Bonnie has been Vanessa’s student about domestic violence treatment, racism, and feminism. Vanessa has been Bonnie’s student about relational neuroscience and how it might apply to healing for those involved in all manner of abuse. The respect and love they have for each other is the cement that holds them together each day.

First Webinar in the series – September 4th from 1-3 CDT – Haunted by History: We will explore how the traumatic histories of White people have become the legacy of Black people.  We hope to invite you into an experience of this process of transmission that can lead to greater understanding of and compassion for the roots of racism.

Second Webinar in the series – September 18th from 1-3 CDT – A Complicated Web: We will invite all of us to explore the intersection of our personal history and systemic racism. 

Third Webinar in the series – October 9th from 1-3 CDT – Difficult Conversations and Big Ideas: How do we begin to have healing conversations with each other? How do we nurture compassion connections without diminishing the unique experience of Black people? What kind of internal changes do we need to make to sustain the systemic changes that also need to happen?

TIMES LISTED ARE CENTRAL DAYLIGHT – PLEASE NOTE YOUR LOCAL TIME:

Pacific Time: 11 am – 1 pm

Mountain Time: 12 noon – 2 pm

Central Time: 1 pm – 3 pm

Eastern Time: 2 pm – 4 pm

In part 2 of this 3 part series, Vanessa and Bonnie invite us to explore a complicated web – the intersection of our personal history and systemic racism.

Just like in part 1, their conversation will be informal and unedited, open to how the conversation wants to unpredictably proceed and so probably messy at times, from the heart as well as the head, built on the care these two women have for each other, and their commitment to staying compassionately and fiercely engaged with this time in history on behalf of racial justice.

Vanessa, a Black woman, has 56 years of experience as a Black woman in this culture, 30 years of antiracist work and feminist work, a decade of studying interpersonal neurobiology, and two decades of shepherding the programs that support domestic violence and sexual assault survivors in Oregon.

Bonnie, a White woman, has 77 years of relative blindness to the effects of racism, 30 years of work with trauma survivors, 17 years of closely studying how to apply interpersonal neurobiology to counseling and daily life, three books about the application of relational neuroscience, and three months of immersion in racism and antiracism studies.

They met as Vanessa was endeavoring to bring relational neuroscience into advocacy and treatment for people emerging from domestic violence. Bonnie has been Vanessa’s student about domestic violence treatment, racism, and feminism. Vanessa has been Bonnie’s student about relational neuroscience and how it might apply to healing for those involved in all manner of abuse. The respect and love they have for each other is the cement that holds them together each day.

First Webinar in the series – September 4th from 1-3 CDT – Haunted by History: We will explore how the traumatic histories of White people have become the legacy of Black people.  We hope to invite you into an experience of this process of transmission that can lead to greater understanding of and compassion for the roots of racism.

Second Webinar in the series – September 18th from 1-3 CDT – A Complicated Web: We will invite all of us to explore the intersection of our personal history and systemic racism. 

Third Webinar in the series – October 9th from 1-3 CDT – Difficult Conversations and Big Ideas: How do we begin to have healing conversations with each other? How do we nurture compassion connections without diminishing the unique experience of Black people? What kind of internal changes do we need to make to sustain the systemic changes that also need to happen?

TIMES LISTED ARE CENTRAL DAYLIGHT – PLEASE NOTE YOUR LOCAL TIME:

Pacific Time: 11 am – 1 pm

Mountain Time: 12 noon – 2 pm

Central Time: 1 pm – 3 pm

Eastern Time: 2 pm – 4 pm

These conversations will be informal and unedited, open to how the conversation wants to unpredictably proceed and so probably messy at times, from the heart as well as the head, built on the care these two women have for each other, and their commitment to staying compassionately and fiercely engaged with this time in history on behalf of racial justice.

Vanessa, a Black woman, has 56 years of experience as a Black woman in this culture, 30 years of antiracist work and feminist work, a decade of studying interpersonal neurobiology, and two decades of shepherding the programs that support domestic violence and sexual assault survivors in Oregon.

Bonnie, a White woman, has 77 years of relative blindness to the effects of racism, 30 years of work with trauma survivors, 17 years of closely studying how to apply interpersonal neurobiology to counseling and daily life, three books about the application of relational neuroscience, and three months of immersion in racism and antiracism studies.

They met as Vanessa was endeavoring to bring relational neuroscience into advocacy and treatment for people emerging from domestic violence. Bonnie has been Vanessa’s student about domestic violence treatment, racism, and feminism. Vanessa has been Bonnie’s student about relational neuroscience and how it might apply to healing for those involved in all manner of abuse. The respect and love they have for each other is the cement that holds them together each day.

First Webinar in the series – September 4th from 1-3 CDT – Haunted by History: We will explore how the traumatic histories of White people have become the legacy of Black people.  We hope to invite you into an experience of this process of transmission that can lead to greater understanding of and compassion for the roots of racism.

Second Webinar in the series – September 18th from 1-3 CDT – A Complicated Web: We will invite all of us to explore the Intersection of our personal history and systemic racism. 

Third Webinar in the series – October 9th from 1-3 CDT – Difficult Conversations and Big Ideas: How do we begin to have healing conversations with each other? How do we nurture compassion connections without diminishing the unique experience of Black people? What kind of internal changes do we need to make to sustain the systemic changes that also need to happen?

This webinar is part of the series: Survive + Thrive = SurThrive! An NL Webinar Series for Navigating the Pandemic.

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Join us in welcoming a very special guest presenter, Elizabeth Jarrett Andrew, author of Writing the Sacred Journey: The Art and Practice of Spiritual Memoir, and Living Revision: A Writer’s Craft as Spiritual Practice. 

Memoir becomes spiritual with intention. Writing spiritual memoir, we look for holiness within the details of our personal stories, opening ourselves to transformation in the process. This practice has the capacity to transform our relationship to our past selves, to memory, to the present, to others, and to our Source.  All of us can participate in creating and recreating our stories on the page as an ongoing spiritual practice.

In this webinar, you will learn:

-What is memoir, and how is it different from autobiography?

-What makes memoir spiritual?  What makes writing it transformational?

-How can the practice of writing memoir deepen our connections to self and others?

To learn more about Elizabeth and her work, visit:

www.spiritualmemoir.com 
www.elizabethjarrettandrew.com 

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The live webinar is free for all to attend. You must register to get the information on how to join the Zoom meeting.  The recording will be freely available for 30 days, after which it will remain available to those who have Basic and Professional NL Membership plans.

This webinar is part of the series: Survive + Thrive = SurThrive! An NL Webinar Series for Navigating the Pandemic.

During this time, many of us are concerned about our health, wellbeing, and our immune system’s ability to protect us.  We are designed to heal, to search for balance, and to connect with our amazing wise one that is a part of each and every one of us.  We often think of healing or wellness on just one plane – the body. While supporting our physical body to relieve symptoms, pain, and illness via western medicine is a part of healing, to gain true health we need to change our perspective and include all the subtle, complex aspects of who we truly are – a multi-layered being of energy and soul.  During this webinar, Michelle Holling-Brooks, founder of Unbridled Change, will share pieces of her own journey and how, with the help of teachers and guides along the way –  the main ones being horses, she has unbridled her body, mind, and soul’s true healing power, defying all odds to miraculously recover from illnesses and diseases that experts said could not be healed.  Michelle is inspired by her own childhood trauma when she spent seven days in a coma, and by a recent battle with a rare and deadly cancer.  She hopes that through her story you can ignite your inner healer and wisdom within so that you can start to unbridle your true nature, finding health and healing of body, mind, and soul.

The live call is free to all.  Recordings are available to all NL members.  All others can “name your price” for the recording (minimum price is $5).

Helping people form connected, trusting relationships to overcome toxic stress and trauma has never been more critical than it is at this exact moment in history.

At the Natural Lifemanship Institute, we have spent the last 10 years teaching our Fundamentals training to mental health professionals, life coaches, equine professionals, and others in the healing professions.

We now offer so many ways to engage with us virtually!  Through NL Membership we are offering more and more rich online learning content through CE courses, webinars, and videos.  Hundreds of hours of online learning directly applicable to the work you do!

Last May we began offering the Fundamentals of NL online as well!  The last Virtual Fundamentals of the summer will start on June 15th. Learn more and register here.

There is a deep need for well-trained practitioners who can help people, organizations, and communities heal. We know that you are an important part of the solution, AND we know you likely have general questions about the NL model, the certification process, and the virtual format.

Join us on Tuesday, and get your questions answered!  We hope to see you there! 

• Receptivity, why it matters and the practice of embodying it
• Is self-regulation possible or even desirable?
• Co-regulation, co-dysregulation, and the value of our own presence and deep resonance with others
• The gut brain, heart brain, head brain, and other neural streams
• And whatever else happens to come up!

Bettina Shultz-Jobe, NL Co-Founder, and Rebecca Hubbard, Co-Founder/Owner of Pecan Creek Ranch will discuss the many ethical dilemmas specific to the field of Equine Assisted Practice. 

If you’ve been in this field for any time at all, you know it gets all kinds of complicated really fast!  Bettina and Rebecca have been in this field for a combined 30 years, and have worked in a variety of situations – not-for profit, for profit, contract, employee, lease agreement, etc.  They’ve seen it all!  They understand the importance of strong ethical values and guidelines for all involved and the complications that arise as we seek to be sustainable in this field.  They bring passion, extensive experience and expertise to this conversation!  We hope you will join us!

They will discuss the following dilemmas, questions and much more:

1. Does the Equine Professional need to abide by the same ethics and HIPAA laws that the Mental Health Professional abides by?
2. My client’s parents don’t want to call our work “therapy.”
3. A potential client wants to do EAP to help her recover from an eating disorder, but this is out of my scope of practice.  However, there isn’t another EAP program close to my client.
4. A potential client wants to do equine assisted coaching, but I am a therapist.  OR they want to do therapy but I am a coach.
5. If I am the Equine Professional (EP) can I teach my client riding lessons?
6. Should my client be able to board their horse at my facility?
7. I usually see clients in an office setting.  Can I charge more for EAP sessions?
8. Is it okay to see a client who is seeing another therapist for “talk therapy?”
9. I have limited horses with which to work, but I’m noticing that one of my horses is showing signs of burnout.
10. Our business is a not-for-profit and one of our board members would like for one of our contract therapists to see their child in therapy.
11. Our business is a not-for-profit.  It is easier for us to raise funds when we have client pictures, stories, and testimonials.  Can I use these?

This live webinar is free to all.  The recording is available to all Basic and Professional NL members.  All others pay what you can. 

This is a widely discussed subject in the field of equine-assisted psychotherapy and learning. Understanding the role of the EP in therapy, learning, and coaching sessions is important for ethical, clinical, and financial reasons. Should the equine professional (EP) attend intakes? What kind of questions can or should they ask of the client? What makes a person qualified to be an EP? What is their responsibility with the horse and the client? How should they communicate with the therapist during and after sessions if they have insights, questions, or concerns about the session? What are some ethical concerns specific to the role of the EP? Tim Jobe and Bettina Shultz-Jobe, NL co-founders, and Reccia Jobe, equine professional and co-founder of Pecan Creek Ranch, will answer these questions and more when you attend this webinar. The presenters have collectively worked with hundreds of clients and with many different EPs and therapists. They all believe in the richness of the team approach and have invaluable experience to share. They are excited to share their experiences with you!

This webinar is part of a new series: Survive + Thrive = SurThrive! An NL Webinar Series for Navigating the Pandemic.

More than ever, this foundational NL principle is vital in our world and in our work:  Secure attachment is built when we can feel an internal sense of connection through physical closeness and through physical distance.

In this webinar Bettina Shultz-Jobe, NL Co-Founder, will expand on what was taught in her last webinar – Doing Attachment-Based Work Through Telehealth.  In this previous webinar she discussed primarily attachment-based attunement and responsiveness.  In this upcoming webinar she will focus primarily on what Natural Lifemanship calls connected detachment – connected but exploring physical distance.

Developmentally, how is connection with distance built?  What does this look like as small children grow and how can this understanding help as we support people throughout the lifespan.  Why and how are things like exploration, distance, challenge, risk, and differentiation so important in our understanding of attachment?  As we partner with people who have attachment wounding, how do we help them feel connected to self, others, their community, and their world even when they are physically alone.  Learning will be applicable to any type of therapy, coaching, or teaching (including telehealth).

The live call is free to all.  Recordings are available to all NL members.  All others can “name your price” for the recording (minimum price is $5).

Helping people form connected, trusting relationships to overcome toxic stress and trauma has never been more critical than it is at this exact moment in history. At the Natural Lifemanship Institute, we have spent the last 10 years teaching our Fundamentals training to mental health professionals, life coaches, equine professionals, and others in the healing professions. And now, for the FIRST TIME EVER, we are offering this essential training online from the comfort of your home.  There is a deep need for well-trained practitioners who can help people, organizations, and communities heal. We know that you are an important part of the solution, AND we know you likely have questions about this very new format.

Join us on Monday, meet some of the instructors for the Virtual training, and get all your questions answered so you can make an informed decision!  We hope to see you soon!

LEARN MORE about the NEW Virtual Fundamentals!

This webinar is part of a new series: Survive + Thrive = SurThrive! An NL Webinar Series for Navigating the Pandemic.

The more I (Bettina Shultz-Jobe, NL Co-Founder and CEO) practice as a therapist, and the longer I am a mother, the more I believe that effective therapy (with clients of any age) is just the building of secure attachment.  The more I learn about trauma, and the more I learn the many different theories and models available for trauma recovery, the more I believe they’re all just different ways of conceptualizing how secure attachment is built. Helping people heal from attachment wounding is experiential to the core!  In this webinar, I will talk about (and model) what it really means to do attachment-based work, AND how a deep understanding and embodiment of this becomes EVEN MORE important when doing telehealth.  We are really going to break it down and get concrete about attachment-based attunement and responsiveness!  This webinar will lay the foundations for my next webinar which will focus more heavily on how to do trauma processing through telehealth.  This webinar is appropriate for any therapist or coach who has recently moved to telehealth.  The information learned will be valuable for telehealth, but will be equally valuable when we are able to move back to in-person sessions, with or without horses. In the year and a half that I have been doing telehealth I have found that this medium has helped me and forced me to hone my skills and more deeply embody what it takes to give my clients the reparative experience of a secure attachment.  I hope telehealth can do the same for you!  Join me!

The live call is free to all.  Recordings are available to all NL members.  All others can “name your price” for the recording (minimum price is $5).

This webinar is part of a new series: Survive + Thrive = SurThrive! An NL Webinar Series for Navigating the Pandemic.

Reccia Jobe, Rebecca Hubbard, and Jenn Weiss, owners and founders of Pecan Creek Ranch will chat with us about their recent move to telehealth. They will share with us the specific criteria they are using to determine with whom they do in person sessions and with whom they are transitioning to telehealth. They will then share the amazing and VERY CREATIVE ways they are incorporating the horses and the experiential piece of this work into telehealth. Lastly, they will share some of the benefits and disadvantages they have experienced thus far. Reccia, Rebecca, and Jenn have over 30 years of collective experience in the field of trauma focused equine assisted psychotherapy that they bring to this recent, and very quick transition to telehealth. If you have also made or are in the process of making this transition, this is a webinar you will not want to miss!!

For more information about Pecan Creek Ranch visit: https://www.pecancreekeap.com/

The live event is free to all! The recording is free to all NL members. All others can “pay what you can” for the recording. All proceeds go to Pecan Creek Ranch.

This webinar is part of a new series: Survive + Thrive = SurThrive! An NL Webinar Series for Navigating the Pandemic.

• Transitioned children and families to telehealth
• Incorporated transitional objects to build connection and bring experiential modalities into sessions
• Create a personal space for well-being (bringing the outside in!)
• Create a shared sensory space between client and clinician
• Adjust the office space to allow for movement and sensory interventions
• Incorporated the horses
• Trained his staff to transition to telehealth
• Incorporated bottom-up regulation into telehealth sessions
• A bit about the technology involved

The truth is that most of us have experienced some level of trauma. We all have experienced things that negatively affect our brain’s ability to function at optimal capacity. This makes it challenging to find a calm connection to self and others.

Trauma informed care (TIC) is about becoming empowered to organize or reorganize the brain by understanding how the brain and body develop.  One of the basic tenets of TIC is that we can help the brain develop and heal through “bottom-up regulation.”

During this webinar, NL co-founder, Bettina Shultz-Jobe, will discuss the basic tenets of TIC and bottom-up regulation based on Dr. Bruce Perry’s Neurosequential Model.  This will allow you to grasp and apply complex concepts to your life and your relationships – to heal instead of hurt.  If a calm, regulated, connection is a priority for you, you won’t want to miss this webinar!

PLEASE NOTE: THE WEBINAR IS FROM 3PM – 4PM CST REGARDLESS OF WHAT IS DISPLAYED ABOVE.

In Natural Lifemanship we believe that true healing cannot happen at the expense of another.  Animal welfare is certainly a hot topic in this field, and rightly so!  NL founders, Tim Jobe and Bettina Shultz-Jobe will discuss how to recognize animal welfare issues, including those that lead to behavior issues and burnout.  They will share how a lack of awareness in this area can impact our clients. Case examples will be shared, including mistakes made.  When animal welfare is integral to the therapy process, deep healing happens as the client’s core issues are addressed.  It’s powerful stuff for horse and human!

Natural Lifemanship co-founder, Bettina Shultz-Jobe, will discuss the difference between offering support and rescuing in the context of the therapeutic relationship.  She will discuss why this matters from a neurobiological and attachment perspective.  Given that EAP has many of its foundations in experiential education and learning, some fundamental differences between experiential education and trauma informed care will be discussed.  Specific case examples will be shared.  The following will be discussed as they apply to client goals and the therapeutic process:  problem-solving, independence, self-regulation, co-regulation, being able to ask for help, interdependence, team-building, communication, thinking “outside of the box,” relationship, and intimacy.

Join Natural Lifemanship co-founders, Tim Jobe and Bettina Shultz-Jobe, for a conversation about some of the belief systems and principles that have historically prevailed in the horse world.  Concepts like leadership, respect, connection, control, safety, and partnership will be explored.  Tim and Bettina will deconstruct these principles in a discussion about how two very different (and often opposing) cultures can come together to bring about health and healing for human and horse alike.  They will also discuss conditions in which bringing horses and humans together to do therapy is inappropriate and possibly harmful for both.  Learn how Natural Lifemanship helps equine assisted practitioners partner people with horses in ways that promote changes at the neurobiological level. With Natural Lifemanship, connection is always the goal of any activity. The process of cultivating connection is highly nuanced ensuring that the relationship is built in ways that promote health and well-being for both parties.