Integrating Horses into Healing

Dr. Cheryl Meola is the founder of Mane Source Counseling, a psychotherapy practice specializing in equine assisted therapy and coaching in Ayden, North Carolina. She is a co-founder and Executive Director of Horses and HEALTH Inc, a non-profit organization that provides EAS to Veterans at no cost to participants. Before getting her master’s in counseling, Cheryl was a professional horse trainer, instructor, and intercollegiate coach for 20+ years. During her master’s studies at Bridgewater State University, Cheryl started working with a mentor in equine assisted psychotherapy. She obtained her PhD from East Carolina University. She is also involved in research, coaching, supervising, writing, and teaching. She has two mares, Octavia and Tia, who are valued co-therapists at Mane Source.

Introduction to the Book

I. Introduction to Equine Assisted Services and the Healing Nature of Horses

1. The Natural Therapeutic Aspects of Horses

2. The Evolution of Equine Assisted Services: Horse are Good for People

3. Horse Speak and Partnership

II. Office to Farm: Incorporating the Horse into the Healing Process

4. Relational Equine-Partnered Counseling (REPC)

5. An In-Depth Approach to Relational Work with Equines: Natural Lifemanship

6. Breathing into Relationships: The Human-Equine Relational Development (HERD) Approach to Equine Facilitated Psychotherapy

7. Side to Side Astride: The Benefits and Challenges of Equine Mounted Work in Trauma Processing

8. Integrating Equine Engaged Internal Family Systems (EE-IFS) and Equine Connected Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EC-EMDR) into the Natural Lifemanship Practice of Equine Assisted Psychotherapy (EAP)

9. Medical Therapy (OT, PT, SLP) Enhanced with Hippotherapy

10. The Equus Effect- An Integrated Approach to Nervous System Regulation through Equine Assisted Learning

11. Serving Those Who Served…. and Still Serve

12. Beyond Mind and Body: Spiritual Connections in Equine Assisted Services

III. Impact of Equine Assisted Services on Equines

13. Be the Horse’s Advocate

14. Enhancing the Horse's Voice: Incorporating Horse Speak into Therapy

15. Exploring the Social-Emotional and Cognitive Development in Horses

16. Not Just Horsing Around: An Equine Professional’s Guiding Principles

17. The Role of the Equine Professional in Equine Assisted Services

18. Heart Centered Horsemanship: A Horse Trainer’s Perspective

19. A Holistic Perspective: My Transformative Journey Through Natural Lifemanship

IV. Practitioner Wellness

20. Are We There Yet? The Ongoing Journey of Healing for Healers

21. Mental Health and Wellbeing for EAS Professionals

V. The Sustainability of EAS: from Practitioner to Program to Industry

22. What Happens When you Put the Cart Before the Horse?

23. The Keys to a Successful Non-Profit Board

24. How do you Know it Works: Program Evaluation in EAS

25. How is Equine Assisted Research Important to my Practice?

26. Conclusions and Future Direction