By Kate Naylor and Bettina Shultz-Jobe
Do you remember what drew you to the field of Equine Assisted Services when you first started down this path? Was it to help people? To help horses? Maybe Both?
If you are like me, you wanted to take your work to the next level – to take something that was working well (family therapy) and improve it by meeting outdoors, finding sensory regulation and movement, and building relationships with horses that were mutually beneficial.
Or maybe you are not like me, there wasn’t “work” you were already doing – it was the horses themselves who drew you in, maybe even gave you refuge, safety, a place to belong.
Whatever your reasons for beginning to consider Equine Assisted Services, now you are here at Natural Lifemanship, and if you are like many of our students you may be wondering how much training you need, wondering how far you should go?
And then the big question, do you have to get certified?
The quick and simple answer is “No” you do not have to get certified. The field of EAS is still fairly new and fairly unregulated – you do not have to be certified in order to partner horses with humans in a way that could promote healing.
Another quick answer is “Yes” you have to be certified, or moving through a certification process, if you want to be covered by insurance.
But, should you get certified? We emphatically say “YES” – and we’re happy to explain why.
Certification costs money, can be a lengthy process, and requires maintenance no matter where you go – we don’t enter into this long-term relationship with you lightly. Your learning and development and your care of your community are at the forefront of our thinking as well. We have created our certification process and maintenance requirements because it is our mission, our deeply held value, and our ethical responsibility to ensure you are offering the safest, most ethical, most effective services you can for the people we all serve.
We’re always coming back to that “why” – the people and horses we are trying to help.
Why Get Certified?
For most of us, the people who knock on our office (and barn) doors are some of the most at-risk, highly vulnerable people out there. Time and again we hear the story of the client who has “tried everything”, nothing has worked, and so finally they are willing to come to us and try this ‘weird’ thing called Equine Assisted ________ (insert therapy, coaching, learning, wellness, etc.). Most of our clients are people for whom the traditional system failed – their trauma, their challenges, their needs are just more complex than a traditional system can handle.
These clients enter into our professional realms, and in doing so, they are asking us, “Will you keep me safe? Can I trust you to have the experience needed to help me?”
Whether you are certified or not – your ethical obligation is to be able to answer “YES!”
Choosing the right certification for you is important.
Signing up for certification with Natural Lifemanship sets into motion a carefully planned learning experience and mentorship that is intended to help you feel informed, supported, and encouraged to grow into a capable, effective, and ethical practitioner.
But we aren’t the only ones who feel this way – insurance companies also need to know you are offering your best services – services that are ethical and safe. They will ask you if you are certified.
If you are in the process of certification they will need to know that you have done X number of hours of training, and that now you are moving through a process of consultation and mentorship with seasoned professionals, ensuring that your services are ethical and safe. And in the event a claim is filed, they likely will ask us about your certification status as well.
Not Just a Piece of Paper: Why is Certification a Process?
Certification can seem like it is about a piece of paper – but it is so much more than that.
With Natural Lifemanship, certification is a process, it is about learning and mentorship that is both personal and professional. It takes time to learn information and integrate it into the work that you do. It takes even more time if you are building a new scope of practice.
We intentionally require our steps of certification so that you have time to develop, grow, and practice applying what you have learned, while being supported and mentored along the way. What we teach – the neurobiology of trauma, the paradigm shift of horses as capable, autonomous partners, the “being” of healing relationships – cannot be learned in just a few days. It would be unethical of us to suggest otherwise.
Our certification process takes time because your development takes time. From trainings to individual consults to group consultations – we will walk alongside you as you internalize the art and science of healing relationships.
When you receive a certification from Natural Lifemanship, you know that you have been through an experience that has set in motion a powerful transformation for you, your horses, and your clients.
What you do after your initial certification matters just as much.
Image Source: Building Bridges Leadership
Maintaining Certification: Why Do You Need to Continue Your Education?
Have you ever heard of the “Forgetting Curve”? The Forgetting Curve is a concept that has arisen from research – it tells us that anything we learn quickly, we will forget quickly. Learning requires depth and meaning in order to take hold in our memories. The Forgetting Curve also tells us that anything we are not routinely reminding ourselves of, will also be forgotten over time.
Continuing education is the backbone of ethical practice. If we were to certify your learning and then never ask you to revisit that learning, or expand and deepen that learning – you would begin to forget, you would lose what you had gained. And then over time your work would suffer.
Here at Natural Lifemanship, we work hard to produce intentional and meaningful continuing education opportunities, this is one thing your certification and maintenance fees pay for. We are constantly trying to improve ourselves as an organization, and we are constantly working to support your continued growth and development as well. Consultation, webinars, video content, conferences…this is how you overcome the forgetting curve.
Certification is how you become ethical and experienced, maintaining certification is how you stay ethical and experienced.
Keeping up with your certification is also necessary to receive coverage from insurance should anything happen – insurance is how you protect yourself and your clients when doing this unique and sometimes unpredictable work.
Where Ethics and Liability Meet
Cassie* (not her real name) is a practitioner who did the work to get certified in Natural Lifemanship. However, over time, she felt maintaining her certification wasn’t justified, and let her certification lapse. She continued to meet with clients utilizing Equine Assisted Therapy operating under the premise that she was NL certified. Unfortunately, one day during a session a client sustained an injury (not entirely unusual when we are working with horses) and Cassie’s client filed a claim so she could pay for her hospital bills and rehabilitation.
Cassie’s insurance called us to ask questions about her certification, and we were forced to reveal that while Cassie was at one time NL certified, she did not maintain her certification with us. Because of this, Cassie’s insurance would not cover the claim. Both she and her client were left with great expense. You see, insurance companies also understand the importance of ongoing learning and the “forgetting curve”—which is why maintaining certification matters to them as well.
This is a sad story, but also a very real one. Working with horses, and involving ourselves in people’s most vulnerable aspects of their lives means a higher risk of liability. We are more at risk, and our clients are more at risk, when we allow ourselves to forget our learning, our ethical obligations, and our commitment to growth.
We Are Walking Alongside You
There are many sad stories like this. It is a good reminder of the power we step into when we offer to be a healing guide for someone else. It is necessary to remember the risk involved when we spend our time with horses, with trauma, and we choose to be an influence over someone else’s wellbeing.
We at Natural Lifemanship do not enter into this long-term relationship with you lightly. We, too, hold ourselves to a commitment of growth and ongoing development, of ethical considerations, as well as personal and professional reflection.
This is why the expense, this is why the time – so that you are not alone as you endeavor to care for your communities of humans and animals. We walk this path together.
Ready to Take the Next Step?
If you’ve been considering certification, or you’re already on the path, now is the time to take action. For a limited time, five of the six steps in the Natural Lifemanship certification process are on sale. This is a really good time to deepen your learning, expand your practice, and walk more confidently in your ethical commitment to clients and horses alike (while saving some money in the process!).
Check out the NL Certification Sale now and take the next step in your professional and personal development.
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