Cool Thing: Equine Assisted Therapy
How do you begin
to summarize the story of a friend you’ve known for over 10 years? Especially
when that friend started off as your 8th grade English teacher?
Little did I know that when I walked into Stef Brok’s classroom in West Lawn,
Pennsylvania that I would be walking out of it with a life mentor. As my
friends and I paged through Mrs. Brok’s interactive stories of a Midsummer Night’s Dream, Treasure Island, and Twelve Angry Men, we learned her story
as well. In her own words, her résumé lists “bartender, waitress, dental assistant, doctor's receptionist/assistant, carny, hospitality for musical groups, pro-wrestler, racetracker, warehouse worker, ... oh yeah, and teacher, too." Many of us knew her outside of the classroom as the self-proclaimed "tweaker" of our musicals. She was always there as an extra set of eyes to make us the best and brightest we could ever be both on stage and off.
This past spring, Stef retired from 37 years of
teaching in the Baltimore City School District and Wilson School District. But
of course, she is simply just onto the next adventure. She continues her
worldly experience with Herd by a Horse, a non-profit organization in
Pennsylvania that offers equine assisted therapy to multiple clienteles.
There is a great deal more to the company that can
be found here at www.herdbyahorse.com, but in a nutshell, David Rosenker and
his intimate team offer a diverse range of therapy sessions, team building
activities, and general assistance by placing individuals or groups in a space
with horses. Horses are extremely intuitive creatures, and are used as models
or tools through which the individuals can express feelings about themselves or
others in their lives. Sometimes the horses are metaphors for obstacles in
their lives, sometimes role models for how to better communicate. Each
individual may vary.
Here is a bit from Stef about her role in the
organization.
Floccadelphia: Where does your attachment to horses stem from?
Stef: When I was young I had to do whatever my big brother Glenn would
do. Isn't that the job of a little sister? We didn't have a whole
lot of money so my dad and mom would rent the "Pepsi Ponies" to come
to our house for birthday parties and the kids would get pony
rides. That did it for Glenn. At the age of 3 or 4, he
was hooked. He went on to showing his own and others' horses, then the
race track where he galloped the thoroughbreds (he was a bit too big to be a
jockey), then became an agent, then a trainer. So... anyway, I followed
Glenn: riding, showing, racetracking, etc. And I just
love the animal. The energy, the intuition, the wholeness that they
give. Horses are my sanity, my therapy, one part of my life that defines
me. They help me to be me.
Now what I do is trail
ride with friends. We ride all around Berks County and sometimes camp our
way around Virginia, New York, Maryland...
There is a
wonderful article in the Oprah Magazine, I think it's the August issue p.
104. I don't know the title as I was just give a copy of the article sans
title page, but it explains this concept pretty well.
F: Can you give a bit of
insight into Equine Therapy?
S: I didn't research where it began, as
far as I'm concerned, it began when man developed a relationship with the
horse. And believe me, there are ALL types of relationships.
Perhaps people started paying attention to Monty Roberts, the original horse
whisperer. Perhaps people realized the therapeutic value of the horse
when working with troubled kids/adults or handicapped kids/adults. But there
are many different types of horse therapy being used at this time.
The certification I'm getting is with the EAGALA program [Equine Assisted Growth and Learning Association].
F: How did you get involved?
S: I got involved when I was tacking up my horse over at Blue Marsh getting
ready for a ride. An acquaintance I had known from being on the SAP team
in the 1980's, David Rosenker, had just returned from a trail ride and
mentioned he had recently been certified in this EAGALA program.
Having no filter, I immediately stated I would just love to do something like
that. Then we went our separate ways and I figured I wouldn't see
or hear from him again. However, a few months later he called and asked
if I'd be interested in working with him as his equine specialist.
This sounded like a great adventure to me, so here I am.
F: Are you volunteering? Full
time paid? Contracted?
S: I actually get paid for this.
Not great amounts, but the insight into this world is remarkable and well worth
the time and effort. For
instance, on Saturday we are taking 3 of my horses up to Hamlin, PA where there
is a "home" for young men ages 18 - 26. It is a 20-bed facility
for those who are not yet ready to deal with society after they are released
from places like Caron Foundation. Perhaps they are still not quite ready
to be on their own after dealing with drug and alcohol issues, etc. We
will do two 2-hour sessions with these kids.
F: Without compromising
privacy of the patients, what is some of the most remarkable work you have seen
done with these horses in terms of therapy?
S: Incredible, unbelievable stuff. For instance, we were working
with a group of 5 women who had experienced trauma in their lives (rape, abuse,
etc.). One woman was assigned the task of building what represented an
obstacle to her recovery. Using all the 'props' we had strewn around the
arena, build what represented her greatest obstacle to getting beyond her
fears, etc. She took EVERYTHING we had: barrels, scarves, poles, traffic
cones, umbrellas, toy beanie babies, balls, bags, EVERYTHING and created a huge
wall. Around this wall she placed the lassos/ropes, as if to hold it all
together. Sharp objects jutting out…it was nasty and could not be
penetrated. Impossible to get through. Upon questioning, this
represented her mother. As she was explaining all this to us and
describing what and why, Frankie, the one horse she had previously
bonded with, went over to check it out and got his foot caught in the lariat
that was surrounding this mass and holding it all together. He shied away
and in doing so, pulled the entire monstrosity to pieces, showing this woman
that it CAN be broken down. So many metaphors in this situation. It was
astounding. And this was just one instance. Stuff like this
happens a lot. I feel these
incredible animals have so much to offer to us, and they do so willingly.
People should be more like them. I think the world would be a much better
place.
I have had the pleasure of riding Frankie, one of
Stef’s horses. He is so named because he has bright blue eyes like Frank
Sinatra, who is also a bit of a hero of mine. To see Stef and her husband Phil
interact with these animals is incredible. This astounding aspect of her life
something that I will always admire, but yet barely scratches the surface of
the incredible woman she is. In our middle school years, she helped mold us
into the individuals we are today by praising our achievements and supporting
our endeavors will beyond her classroom.
I sit writing this overlooking the sea and the
southern coast of France on the cruise ship I have learned to call home. I got
this job through my extracurricular activities, many of which were obtained
because of her recommendations at a young age. I am blessed and extremely
fortunate to have such a job, but I can only hope that my life will have some
shrivel of comparison to Stef’s. She is not just a teacher. She is a student of
the world.
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