NSU Family Therapy Program Turns to Horses as Therapy for Kids in Foster Care

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

FORT LAUDERDALE/DAVIE, Fla. –  Horses are helping foster care youth overcome challenges, thanks to a new Nova Southeastern University (NSU) clinical program that partners horses, family therapists, and researchers from Florida International University (FIU.)

Master’s and doctoral level therapists from NSU’s Family Therapy Program (housed within NSU’s College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences) will collaborate with the non-profit organization Stable Place and researchers from the FIU-BRIDGE program to provide Equine Facilitated Psychotherapy (EFP) as an additional form of treatment for children in the SOS Children’s Villages-Florida. The non-profit residential group home provides a family-like setting fostering children with a history of abuse, neglect or abandonment.  FIU-BRIDGE is a multidisciplinary research group devoted to the design, implementation and evaluation of community-based prevention and brief intervention strategies for reducing risk behavior problems and promoting health and well-being among youth.

Co-directed by Shelley Green, Ph.D., professor of family therapy at NSU, and FIU psychologist Michelle Hospital, the two-year study has been funded by the Ware Foundation and will contribute to the growing body of research in the field of equine facilitated psychotherapy (EFP.) The project will develop effective EFP interventions to increase self-confidence, improve interpersonal relations and reduce anxiety and depressive symptoms among foster youth ages 10-17.

“Through this unique partnership with the FIU-BRIDGE program and SOS Children’s Village, we will now be able to expand these services to foster care youth,” Dr. Green said. “We will be able to incorporate a state-of-the-science research protocol, allowing us to document the effectiveness of this powerful clinical work in helping at-risk youth and children deal effectively with ongoing life challenges.”

The field of equine facilitated psychotherapy has gained increasing visibility and support in the past 15 years and has been used with individuals experiencing substance abuse, eating disorders, family and marital conflict, sexual abuse, depression, problems in school and other challenges. The particular theoretical and clinical approach utilized in this study was developed by Dr. Green, and is used to teach and train all Stable Place therapists through graduate level coursework offered through the Family Therapy master’s and doctoral programs.

“There is accumulating research underscoring the untapped potential of equine facilitated psychotherapy for improving the health, happiness and well-being of foster care youth,” Hospital said. “Our study is among the first scientifically rigorous clinical trials of Equine Facilitated Psychotherapy participation and will be especially valuable for identifying its benefits among residential foster care youth.”

The opportunity to allow these individuals to work with horses may be nothing short of transformative because, as Hospital points out, foster youth need access to more innovative techniques than conventional in-office talk therapy can offer. Research shows children in foster care are more likely to have experienced abuse and have a greater prevalence of conduct disorder, developmental delays and neurological impairments. The goal of using the horses and working within the natural setting of EFP is to reduce the participants’ anxiety, social stress and depression as well as enhance their coping skills and self-confidence while improving their interpersonal relations.

Stable Place therapists trained by Dr. Green will collaborate with certified equine specialists supervised by Stable Place Director Valerie Bruce Judd to deliver the clinical services. The weekly group therapy sessions will be structured around an activity intentionally designed to address specific clinical issues including creating and maintaining personal boundaries, overcoming fears, improving conflict resolution, enhancing anger management, developing trust, and maintaining personal safety. The sessions will build on the existing strengths of the participants and provide an experiential means to therapeutic success that can sometimes be elusive through traditional talk therapy methods.

This project offers the opportunity for a unique collaboration between NSU Family Therapy Program, FIU- BRIDGE and Stable Place that will contribute important research while making a positive impact on the lives of South Florida children. For more information about the program, contact Dr. Shelley Green at 954-296-7913 or Stable Place at 954-790-0270.

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About Nova Southeastern University (NSU): Located in beautiful Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Nova Southeastern University (NSU) is a dynamic research institution dedicated to providing high-quality educational programs at the undergraduate, graduate, and first-professional degree levels. A private, not-for-profit institution with more than 26,000 students, NSU has campuses in Fort Lauderdale, Fort Myers, Jacksonville, Miami, Miramar, Orlando, Palm Beach, and Tampa, Florida, as well as San Juan, Puerto Rico, while maintaining a presence online globally. For more than 50 years, NSU has been awarding degrees in a wide range of fields, while fostering groundbreaking research and an impactful commitment to community. Classified as a research university with “high research activity” by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, NSU is 1 of only 37 universities nationwide to also be awarded Carnegie’s Community Engagement Classification, and is also the largest private, not-for-profit institution in the United States that meets the U.S. Department of Education’s criteria as a Hispanic-serving Institution. Please visit www.nova.edu for more information about NSU and realizingpotential.nova.edu for more information on the largest fundraising campaign in NSU history.

June 22, 2016

Joe Donzelli | Office of Public Affairs
954-262-2159 (office) | 954-661-4571 (cell)
jdonzelli@nova.edu | www.nova.edu