About us
Strength & Learning Through Horses is an equine assisted therapy charity based in North London. Our mission is to improve the wellbeing and life chances of young people through outdoor based activities working with therapy horses. In order to do this, we offer a range of mental health focused and education focused services. These are designed in collaboration with the young people and community we serve and as such our service offer is always growing, adapting and changing.
We support young people who are excluded or at risk of permanent exclusion from mainstream education, experiencing significant mental health challenges, and are struggling to engage with conventional therapies and educational interventions.
Our key strength is in engaging young people when they feel unable to engage with other services. We have a strong 15-year track record of achieving positive outcomes for young people when traditional therapy and education services have failed. The key to this success is that we use the natural ability of horses to read and respond to human emotions to engage young people in the process of learning about their own behaviours and emotions. Horses are herd animals who rely on body language to communicate; they will run away from someone showing anger, show anxious behaviours around someone feeling anxious and be calm around someone who is feeling calm. In order to build relationships with our horses the young people have to learn to identify their emotions and modify their behaviour. Our expert staff team work together with the young people to help take this learning and translate it to changes in their wider lives.
The majority of young people we support have a strong distrust of adults due to Adverse Childhood Experiences and struggle to engage with education, social work and mental health professionals.
They engage with us because the horses engage their interest and trust. They first attend our centre because they are curious to meet the horses; an experience most haven’t had the opportunity to do before. Once on site it is impossible for them to not be engaged and to have an emotional response to the animals and the environment. Typical initial responses include fear; excitement; and relaxation. It is impossible to be in the presence of a herd of horses and not be emotionally impacted in some way.
Training, qualifications & experience
- Fully qualified therapists working alongside experienced horse professionals
- HCPC registered clinical psychologists BACP registered Psychotherapists
- As an organisation we are fully registered with the equine assisted services partnership
We also offer alternative educational opportunities and courses for young people who are not attending main stream school.
Member organisations *
school Registered / Accredited
Being registered/accredited with a professional body means an individual must have achieved a substantial level of training and experience approved by their member organisation.
The HCPC are an independent, UK-wide health regulator. They set standards of professional training, performance and conduct for 16 professions.
They keep a register of health professionals who meet their standards, and they take action if registered health professionals fall below those standards. They were created by a piece of legislation called the Health Professions Order 2001.
Registration means that a health professional meets national standards for their professional training, performance and conduct.
Areas of counselling we deal with
Therapies offered
Photos & videos
Fees
£120.00 - £190.00
Additional information
fees available on request
