Generate and Grow Connection

Professional Training in Equine Facilitated Wellness

In 2006 we were asked by an enthusiastic group of workshop participants to teach them how we do what we do. That was the beginning of our training program. Many of those original students have gone on to create their own successful practices and to use this knowledge to enhance other aspects of their careers and lives.

Training at Generation Farms gives the opportunity to meet our multi-disciplinary team who are active offering a wide range of programs.

Generation Farms has developed a safe and informed method of working with humans and horses together for healing and wellness. In all programs at Generation Farms we follow a consistent neuroscience and trauma sensitive philosophy, creating a tone of calm and flexibility for humans and horses. Our approach is drawn from principles of relational horsemanship, somatic psychology, mindfulness, nature based practice and trauma therapy, as well as the Eponaquest Approach. Sharing our knowledge is a way to expand the possibilities this wonderful work offers, and gives us many opportunities to deepen our own abilities. People have traveled from all across Canada, the USA and beyond to attend training workshops at Generation Farms.

For dates and details please go to: TRAINING SCHEDULES

Horses create social engagement opportunities and that is the heart of well being. Deborah is a recognised Trainer affiliated with the Professional Association for Equine Facilitated Wellness. Pro-EFW is a Canadian organisation dedicated to quality EFW practices, where the horse is recognised as a sentient being. Certification is offered through Pro-EFW in three streams: Equine Professional, Learning Professional and Mental Health Professional. All streams train together enriching the experience for all. Dual and Tri Certification options are available.

In addition to the programs at Generation Farms, Deborah has offered EFW workshops in locations including Mary’s Therapeutic Farm in Victoria, Hollyhock Centre on Cortes Island, Highlands Gate in Lanark County Ontario, Willaway Farm in Almonte Ontario and PRANCE in Port Elgin Ontario.

The Process Is About Connection

Horses create social engagement opportunities; the heart of well being. Connection and attunement. When people feel safe enough, their own internal healing process can be activated. We create a safe container to allow the possibility of co-regulation when we are well regulated ourselves and when we know ourselves deeply. This comes through experiences of social engagement as well as awareness of our senses and our body. Then we create this possibility for our horses and our clients. Horses naturally connect with people. Our job is simple when we are in alliance with our horses for healing.

Equine Professionals and Coaches

We have an interest in supporting coaches to integrate EFW principles into your work. We hear from many coaches that they are discouraged with the demands on the horses of  riding programs. We have two EFW Equine Professionals on our team and welcome coaches to train alongside the Learning and Mental Health professionals to explore new ways of working with their horses. It is very gratifying to see what Generation Farms trained riding coaches and therapeutic riding coaches are bringing to their important work.

Certification

We concur with and follow Canadian and international best standards on certification – International Standard ISO/IEC 17024 – that certification should come from independent and nationally recognized professional associations – and not from the organizations or individuals providing the training. This greatly enhances the credibility of the certification earned and better protects the interests of the people and horses we work with.

We do not offer certification but do give a letter of completion for all of our training programs that acknowledges attendance of the participant. Our programs can be taken to enhance your professional or personal development. The certification is through Pro-EFW after all of the requirements have been met. 

There are a number of professional bodies in North America that offer and/or are developing such certification processes which the Generation Farms training programs are recognized by and qualify towards. Among this is the Professional Association for Equine Facilitated Wellness (Pro EFW). This is a collaborative non profit initiative involving a wide range of experienced professionals from all aspects of the field. www.equinefacilitatedwellness.com.

At the Level One Exploration Workshop we review the current status of the various certification options, including the Pro EFW model, and help participants determine the path which best fits their scope of practice and goals in the areas of an EFW practice or personal development. Foundations and Focus Trainings add skill and practice through learning core concepts of The Generation Farms Approach in a supportive small group situation. Integration is the final formal week of training. Other certification requirements are on the Pro EFW website.

While our trainings meet the Pro EFW core requirements, as per Canadian and International best standards for certification, Generation Farms and Deborah Marshall are independent of and separate from all professional associations developing and implementing certification programs.

In our opinion, the study of Equine Facilitated Wellness is not something that can be learned in one place or from one person. It is a deep journey of learning and discovery and students are best served by having varied learning experiences. EFW includes a body of knowledge and experience that can enhance anyone’s life. Our training workshops are open to people who want to learn more about EFW to enhance connection with themselves, their horses and their relationships. When embarked on as a profession, EFW is adjunctive to additional or pre-existing skills and training in the equine, education and learning, or mental health fields.

Horses create social engagement opportunities and that is the heart of well being. Deborah is a recognised Trainer affiliated with the Professional Association for Equine Facilitated Wellness. This is a Canadian organisation dedicated to quality EFW practices, where the horse is recognised as a sentient being. Certification is offered through Pro-EFW in three streams: Equine Professional, Learning Professional and Mental Health Professional. All streams train together enriching the experience for all. Dual and Tri Certification options are available.

In addition to the programs at Generation Farms, Deborah has offered EFW workshops in locations including Mary’s Therapeutic Farm in Victoria, Hollyhock Centre on Cortes Island, Highlands Gate in Lanark County Ontario, Willaway Farm in Almonte Ontario and PRANCE in Port Elgin Ontario.

The Process Is About Connection

Horses create social engagement opportunities; the heart of well being. When people feel safe enough, their own internal healing process can be activated. We create a safe container to allow the possibility of co-regulation when we are well regulated ourselves and when we know ourselves deeply. This comes through experiences of social engagement as well as awareness of our senses and our body. Then we create this possibility for our horses and our clients. Horses naturally connect with people. Our job is simple when we are in alliance with our horses for healing.

Equine Professionals and Coaches

We have an interest in supporting coaches to integrate EFW principles into your work. We hear from many coaches that they are discouraged with the demands on the horses of  riding programs. We have two EFW Equine Professionals on our team and welcome coaches to train alongside the Learning and Mental Health professionals to explore new ways of working with their horses. It is very gratifying to see what Generation Farms trained riding coaches and therapeutic riding coaches are bringing to their important work.

Certification

We concur with and follow Canadian and international best standards on certification – International Standard ISO/IEC 17024 – that certification should come from independent and nationally recognized professional associations – and not from the organizations or individuals providing the training. This greatly enhances the credibility of the certification earned and better protects the interests of the people and horses we work with.

Deborah and Generation Farms do not offer certification but do give a letter of completion for all of our training programs that acknowledges attendance of the participant. Our programs offer the mandatory training requirements for Pro-EFW certification. Our programs can also be taken to enhance your professional or personal development.

There are a number of professional bodies in North America that offer and/or are developing such certification processes which the Generation Farms training programs are recognized by and qualify towards. Among this is the Professional Association for Equine Facilitated Wellness (Pro EFW). This is a collaborative non profit initiative involving a wide range of experienced professionals from all aspects of the field. www.equinefacilitatedwellness.com.

At the Level One Exploration Workshop we review the current status of the various certification options, including the Pro EFW model, and help participants determine the path which best fits their scope of practice and goals in the areas of an EFW practice or personal development. Foundations and Focus Trainings add skill and practice through learning core concepts of The Generation Farms Approach in a supportive small group situation. Integration is the final formal week of training. Other certification requirements are on the Pro EFW website.

While our trainings meet the Pro EFW core requirements, as per Canadian and International best standards for certification, Generation Farms and Deborah Marshall are independent of and separate from all professional associations developing and implementing certification programs.

In our opinion, the study of Equine Facilitated Wellness is not something that can be learned in one place or from one person. It is a deep journey of learning and discovery and students are best served by having varied learning experiences. EFW includes a body of knowledge and experience that can enhance anyone’s life. Our training workshops are open to people who want to learn more about EFW to enhance connection with themselves, their horses and their relationships. When embarked on as a profession, EFW is adjunctive to additional or pre-existing skills and training in the equine, education and learning, or mental health fields.

• riding
• horsemanship
• youth counselling with children, youth and families
• parenting support
• group addiction treatment
• psychotherapy for adults
• short-term adjunct trauma therapy
• leadership
• restorative programs for workplace groups

Horses have a powerful role in healing trauma. They live in the present moment, highly aware of their surroundings, without the ability to ruminate about the past or worry about the future. They fully use all of their senses, including their ability to read the inner state of another. They are social and respond warmly to humans who are in touch with their emotions. Their attentiveness to the present state of a human has the capacity to heal old wounds through the bond of connection in the here and now. Not creatures of the cognitive, horses have the gift of intervening on an emotional and somatic (body) level. This makes them wonderful partners in the Generation Farms approach which focuses on the body and natural responses.

In our work we help people to regain their ability to experience these attributes that come so easily to horses. People then heal naturally. With guidance from a facilitator and a horse, in the natural environment, people can update old hurts and reconnect with the memory of how to function well and think clearly.

In our training workshops we teach basic neuroscience to give an informed base of understanding. Teaching includes:

• understand fight, flight and freeze
• how to work within a healing Window of Tolerance
• the principles of self regulation and its application to working with horses and people
• the concept of ‘safe enough’
• present moment body centred focus
• using all the senses
• knowing when, how and why to pause and allow time
• allow and align without force
• social engagement
• reflective and active approaches
• introduction to a nature based approach
• Relational Horsemanship and its application to EFW
• safe guarding the horse
• proximity boundaries and energetic boundaries

Teaching is done through theoretical information, PowerPoint presentations, hands on exercises with horses, demonstrations, reading and supportive practice with each other. Covid offered the challenge of new programming. We now use a combination of online and onsite learning that has ended up enhancing the learning. Programs are offered at Generation Farms on Vancouver Island and outside Ottawa at Highands Gate.