Youth in Equine-Assisted Therapy

Equine-assisted therapy /EAT/ has proven to be beneficial to children and young people with disabilities among which the most common are Cerebral Palsy, Autism Spectrum Disorder, Attention Deficit...

The first objective of the project was to connect organizations from different sectors and embark upon together a journey to better the quality of the work, activities and practices of the entities in the field of YEAT. That had to open up professional organizations to new actors, not naturally included in the sector. Involving other parties in equine-assisted therapy had to create a network that spread the method and ensure the effective participation of young people, especially with diverse abilities. Secondly, the project had to build the capacity of the organizations to work transnationally and reach to other sectors beyond equine-assisted therapy with special focus on youth. Thirdly, through the partnership common needs and priorities in YEAT had to be addressed. The equine-assisted therapy field was in great need of involving young people both from the providers’ and beneficent’s side. Finally, the cooperation and the end result had to lead to transformation and change of parties involved in the project, thus leading to improvements and new approaches in YEAT. YEAT is such an innovative concept that only through providing valuable resources it can grow to involve and serve much more youth in need.

The YEAT project gathered its partners, youth workers, and other professionals on several occasions. In the cooperation process and attending the respective events partners collected valuable information and good practices associated with YEAT. As a result and with the purpose of spreading it further one project results was created – the YEAT Guidelines. All of the project transnational meetings and the learning exchange event along with every stage of the project brought the partners together. PQHFB coordinated the project managing its implementation and reporting. The coordinator also monitored the quality and performance of the partner organizations, the activities, and the project result. The organization ensured that there was sufficient evaluation done and feedback is received regarding the project both internally within the partnership and externally when other participants and audience was involved. The start of the project was given with the kick-off transnational meeting in France in January 2022. There partners got to know each other, presented in details the relevant work of each organization, made an overview of the project, discussed how the YEAT Guidelines would look like and what has to be done during the data collection process to receive the information necessary for the YEAT Guidelines. At the same time data collection activities in all partnering countries began, continuing until June 2022. The organization that joined the project a bit later continued their data collection process until December 2022. The data collection activity was key for the creation of the YEAT Guidelines. It consisted of interviews in accordance with agreed questionnaire of person and organizations, visits to venues and exchange of information. Unfortunately, our French partner – LUCK33 failed to undertake this activity in due time. In the summer of 2022 the French partner organization was replaced by an Italian organization – Creativi108. In May 2022 a learning exchange activity for 22 participants was organized in Bulgaria. The participants came from France, Belgium, and Bulgaria. The event was designed to welcome young people with special needs and other professionals to work together on innovative approaches to YEAT. There were a lot of meetings and discussions working in bigger and smaller groups. Demonstrations and testing of the innovative approaches to YEAT took place on-field with the therapy horses at the horse ranch where PQHFB usually carries out its programs. The young people with special needs were fascinated by the horses and managed to benefit from the therapy approaches. A midterm transnational meeting was held in Belgium in September 2022. The main goal of the meeting was to have the partners work together on the first draft of the YEAT Guidelines prepared by PQHFB. Everyone had their input regarding what information was useful, how the document should be structured, what visualizations were most suitable for the audience. We got the chance to get to know the work of the new partner Creativi108. The start of the creation of the YEAT Guidelines was in January 2022. The document was finialized in February 2023. It was initially written in English language and then translated in Bulgarian language by PQHFB, in Italian language by Creativi108, and in French language by QUEST. The YEAT Guidelines contains methodologies, good practices, and information about YEAT gathered as a result of the data collection process, the learning exchange activity, and the expertise of the partner organizations. Following the successful completion of the project result, multiplier events in Bulgaria, Belgium, and Italy were organized – one in Italy in March 2023, one in Bulgaria in June 2023, and one in February 2023 in Belgium. The purpose of the events was to spread the project and its results to a large audience. The same effort was made by all partners throughout the entire project period carrying out dissemination activities – publishing information and materials about the project, sharing the project with the members of their organizations, spreading the project in their extended networks during online and in-person events. In May 2023 the final end project transnational meeting was held in Bulgaria. Partners gathered to evaluate the project and its results and discuss how to ensure its sustainability after the project period ends. The partner organizations reaffirmed their intentions of continuing sharing the project and its result in the upcoming years whenever suitable, especially during other international projects.

The expected outcomes of the project resulted in developing and application of innovative practices on organizational, national and international levels with a long-term impact. The main project result was the Youth in Equine-Assisted Therapy Guidelines that was created by the partners. Through the YEAT Guidelines innovative approaches for addressing young people and EAT were developed. In our efforts to meet the needs of young people with disabilities new and improved practices of equine-assisted therapy were created and spread. Current and future professionals in EAT, especially young people are now able to gain practical knowledge. Young people can receive a better idea on what EAT is and how to get involved on professional level or as volunteers. Young people with disabilities can ensure to receive better service and the opportunity to find out more about the method. On organizational level were created more modern, dynamic, committed and professional environment inside the organizations. The entities opened and managed to integrate good practices and new methods. Through the data collection process and multiplier events the organizations and professionals created synergies with organizations active in different fields and other socio- economic sectors within and outside the partnership. An example is our partner Creativi108 that is now developing a project with a local equestrian organization. The entire project, especially the methodology in the YEAT Guidelines triggered strategic planning of professional development of staff in line with individual needs and organizational objectives. The cooperation partnership increased the capacity and professionalism to work at European and even international level of the parties involved. Organizations improved their management competences and internalization of future development strategies, as well as increased quality in the preparation, implementation,monitoring and follow-up of European and international projects. The YEAT project developed Key Competences in the participants both from the partners and outside at the different project stages: social and learning competence, cultural awareness and expression competence, personal, scientific reasoning through their process of investigation through context-specific methodologies, citizenship competence, literacy competence through critical and constructive dialogue, entrepreneurship competence, and an interest in interaction between different professionals.