Ways to make your work more trauma-sensitive

The stresses of daily living, accidents, medical interventions, mental, emotional, and physical conflicts and violations, combined with cultural conditioning, and our early childhood experiences when our young nervous systems were most vulnerable, not to mention vicarious trauma, or trans-generational trauma, leave most of us disposed to experiencing trauma at one time or another.

Before we can attempt to talk about trauma, or discuss approaches for dealing with trauma, we need to define it, however due to its complexity and our unique and varied capacity to respond to trauma, it is difficult to define.   Here is what Dr. Rober Scaer, author of The Trauma Spectrum says about defining trauma:

“I attempt to redefine trauma as a continuum of variably negative life events occurring over the lifespan, including events that may be accepted as ‘normal’ in the context of our daily experience because they are endorsed and perpetuated by our cultural institutions…. most of the population may be exposed to events that are actually traumatising but condoned by these institutions.”

Four hallmarks of trauma

Working with people with trauma is complex, delicate work.  Here are four common features of trauma or hallmarks of trauma that, as practitioners we can take into consideration to make our work more trauma-sensitive, and support our clients more.

Common features or hallmarks of trauma

1. We were overwhelmed – such as when an event or events were beyond our range of tolerance or coping mechanisms
2. The event was unexpected
3. We felt helpless – we could do nothing about it
4. A boundary violation occurred

How the four hallmarks of trauma can be used as a framework in our practice

Assuming we already know about building rapport with clients, confidentiality, non-judgment and unconditional positive regard for our clients, we can further refine our work to counter the effects of trauma by:

1. Avoiding overwhelm
2. Avoiding surprises
3. Empowering our clients and giving them choice
4. Setting and modeling healthy boundaries

How does this look in practice?
It will be different for each of us, and here are some tips to help you think about using this framework in your practice, with your family, in your community … the ultimate goal is to create a climate of safety.

• To avoid surprises (and feeling overwhelmed) help your new clients prepare for their visit to you.  Pictures are helpful.  On your website or other communications, include a picture of you, your work space, the entrance, the parking space, etc.  I also include pictures of people engaging with my horses, and an explanation of what to expect, how it works, etc. on my website.

Providing an information sheet on confirmation of appointments that includes extra information such as how to get to you, what to wear, what to bring, etc. can also minimise surprises and reduce overwhelm.

• To avoid overwhelm, go slow, and start small, until you get a sense of how much stimulus your client can tolerate.  It’s ok to check in with them often for feedback on how they are managing – if it is not obvious.
• To help your client feel empowered, use invitational language, give them as much choice as possible, and ensure they don’t feel wrong by any choices they make.
• Set and model healthy boundaries.  Simple things we might take for granted are being punctual and sticking to the agreed time, being reliable, consistent, congruent, and respecting their needs while taking care of our own.

Encourage clients to ask for what they need (to feel safe, comfortable), and explain that they have the right to say ‘no,’ and they have a right to their space.   Acknowledge any time they set a boundary for themselves.

Hopefully these tips will stimulate your thinking about your practice and what more can you do to support your clients.  Use your strategies outside your practice – with your children, friends, colleagues …  remember we all have some trauma, and we can all appreciate the effort someone makes for us to feel safe.

To learn more about equine experiential learning and how to be trauma-sensitive, attend our CEEL facilitator training.

Horses are mysterious and generous beings that often go above and beyond in the service of humans.  Even when they have an ‘ideal lifestyle’ where they live in a herd, are free to roam and graze most of their days, have agency over their own bodies, are free from pain and illness, and can choose to participate in equine therapy sessions, they may still be working too hard.

Equine therapy practitioners often describe the way horses work as ‘mirroring’ or responding to the client.  They sometimes explain that horses have the capacity to show clients what they can’t see about themselves.

What we can’t see about ourselves can be disturbing to the horses

What we can’t see about ourselves is our subconscious world, which is made up of our beliefs, conditioning, unresolved experiences and traumas, and unprocessed emotions.  Our subconscious world is what is mostly unknown to us, and is what has the most influence on our thinking, choices, behaviours, and experiences.  In terms of energy, it has the most power.

In equine therapy programs, clients typically enter the horses’ space and engage with the horses – initially by greeting them.  Being prey animals, horses need to know what they are dealing with in order to determine how safe they are.  Consequently they are exceptionally sensitive to our clients’ energy – specifically the unconscious stuff.

Imagine someone walking towards you and you could see chaotic energies swarming around them – yet they were unaware of them.  You would barely see the person as you focus on the energies in order to take care of yourself.  Chances are you would be responding to those energies, too!

That is pretty much what happens for our horses every time a person enters their space that does not have awareness of their ‘stuff’ and therefore probably doesn’t take conscious ownership of it.

Since the person is unaware of such energies – of unresolved experiences and traumas, and unprocessed emotions, the horses need to be extra concerned because they may not be entirely under the person’s control, and there is no knowing what the person might do.

When we are not aware of what we are feeling or holding in our bodies, the horses will respond to this unclaimed, and misqualified energy – usually in the form of overt, highly expressive or unusual behaviour.  This might include anything from nipping or kicking each other, to chasing their own tails, or twitching and scratching, and so on.

When we see such overt, expressive behaviours, our horses may be working too hard, and this kind of continued exposure to clients may lead to burn out for our horses.

What can we do to minimise the impact on our horses?

Here are 4 steps to prepare ourselves and our clients to minimise the impact we may have on our horses:

1. Before you start or enter the horses’ space, invite your client to join you in turning your head and looking around / taking time to feel more settled in the environment.  This practice of orienting is working with our biology, and calms the nervous system.   It gives us a chance to determine how safe we feel and notice what is in our environment.
2. Ground yourself and your client.  This brings you both into the present, and into your bodies.
3. Ask your client to find a word that matches how she is feeling right now. This helps her to take responsibility for what she brings into the horses’ space.  (Silently do this for yourself also).
4. Ask your client if she can notice how her body tells her how she is feeling.  This connects her mind to her body’s responses – which is what the horses are primarily responding to.

Use a somatic approach

The body houses our subconscious mind.  Helping clients notice and track their physiological responses to their stories brings the subconscious up to conscious awareness.  When the client begins to notice their ‘energies,’ they become less concerning to the horses.  With this approach, the horses may seem more attentive, however the impact on them is significantly reduced because they do not have to show the client what they are not able to see themselves.  Consequently their work is deeper more subtle, and more impactful, but far easier on them.

I love the word, “safe.”  Just try saying or thinking the word, “safe” right now and notice how it ‘settles’ in you.  I often tell my horses, dogs, and grandchildren, “you are safe.”   When I say it, I can feel my own nervous system settling and feeling comforted.  And since children and animals are tuned into our nervous systems for their own regulation, they become settled also.  A good practice with nervous or anxious animals is to sit with them and focus on the word, safe:  you could try saying, “you are safe; I am safe; we are all safe.” Safe is one of the most powerful words in the human language.  Use it often and notice how your body and others around you respond.

Safety is a felt experience

Safety is not something we perceive with the mind.  You may have had an experience where your mind said you were safe, but you were feeling unsafe.  This is because of neuroception.   Neuroception, a term coined by Dr. Stephen Porges is our ability to detect threat (or safety) in our environment through our body’s sensing abilities and nervous system.  This ‘surveillance system’ operates 24/7 to detect threats in our environment – irrespective of what our cognitive brains are doing.  (People with unresolved trauma however, often have ‘faulty neuroception’ where they constantly feel unsafe).

What happens when we sense we are safe?

Our bodies are constantly seeking equilibrium.  Animals in the wild – who have the same nervous system / threat response biology as we do, will shake and tremble when the threat of danger has passed and their bodies feel safe enough to discharge the residual survival energy coursing through their bodies, so that they can restore equilibrium.  Similarly, when our bodies feel safe, they will attempt to release the discordant energies of stress and trauma.  This also includes the discordant energies of unprocessed, difficult emotions.

How can safety bring out the worst in clients?

“The worst” is the toxic, discordant energy held in the body that causes nervous system dysregulation and leads to discomfort, mental disorders, illness, and disease.   An instinctive, natural response to feeling safe is to release the toxic, discordant energy to restore equilibrium.

Our bodies are constantly seeking equilibrium

When we hold discordant energy in our bodies, they are likely to:

• Attract experiences that activate these unresolved, discordant energies so that we have an opportunity for release and closure
• Naturally release these unresolved or discordant energies when they sense it is safe enough to do so – i.e. when the conditions are right

Why don’t we naturally release any time we feel safe enough?

If the trauma or stressful event is ‘fresh’ – as in it just happened, we often do release through shaking or trembling.  Or maybe we cry, or shout and get angry (releasing the energies of the fight response).  However, when the hurtful experience is suppressed, we (instinctively) need the presence of another regulated nervous system to ensure we don’t get overwhelmed with, or consumed by the release of the toxic energies.  This is a biological decision determined by the process of neuroception.

You and your horses may create a sense of ‘safe enough’

If your horses are mentally, emotionally, and physically healthy, AND they trust and feel safe with you, their nervous systems will be communicating ‘safety’ to your clients.  Naturally you have a pivotal role in establishing and maintaining this sense of safety through your own nervous system regulation.   What your clients’ nervous systems are looking for is a stable, resonant and powerful energy field that can contain them as they release discordant, toxic, and uncomfortable energy.

How do we know when clients are releasing?

It is not uncommon for clients to feel emotional or teary – especially when there are no preceding thoughts that seem to have triggered the release, OR an old memory instantly and unexpectedly surfaces.  They may start feeling shaky or have some other unusual or unfamiliar sensation in their bodies.   This can happen with or without going into their stories.  In fact, it usually happens early on – on the phone, visiting your website, arriving at your place of practice, or initially stepping into your horses’ space.

HOW DO WE SUPPORT CLIENTS?

It is important to get somatic-based training for working with people who have had hurtful experiences, trauma, or chronic stress.  However, you may already be working with clients, and if they start releasing unexpectedly, it is too late for you to stop the process until you have attended relevant training.  Here are some interim tips that may help you support your clients when the start releasing:

1. Bring your attention to your own body – feel your feet on the ground, and take a few deep breaths.  The best support you can offer your client is to maintain a stable, regulated nervous system.  It is easy to get concerned about another’s well-being when they show signs of distress.  This concern registers in our nervous system as shallower breathing, more rapid heartbeat, and narrow focusing of the eyes.  Your client’s body will notice this and it could amplify their distress.
2. Explain to your client that this releasing is a natural biological strategy to restore a degree of comfort in the body (as long as it is gentle and not cathartic).  A small release will produce a greater sense of well-being than a big, cathartic release.
3. Check in with your client by asking if it is ok for them to stay with this.

If the client says no, you will need to stabilise them.  You can ask them if they can feel their feet on the ground (to make sure they are in their bodies).  Then orient them to the environment (brings them into the present moment) – a good practice is to ask them to look around and notice something that is pleasing (creates a state change).  Let them settle, and recompose.  It is not uncommon that new awareness or an insight will occur when they are in a more settled state.

If the client says yes, tell them to take their time (you don’t want them to rush through it or suppress it).  While the client is releasing:

• Do not attempt to interrupt, fix, or even soothe the client
• Maintain your own calming presence
• Contain the client’s releasing so that it is gentle and not overwhelming or re-traumatising their nervous system.   If the releasing seems to be intensifying a little, invite them to slow down and take a breath.  If the releasing is increasingly intensifying, interrupt and explain that their bodies need a chance to catch up.  Invite them to pause and orient them to the environment (see pt. 3).  Once they are settled, they may want to go back and continue.

4.  When the client is recomposed and settled, check in and ask what is different.  (There will always be something different because we are dynamic beings.)

5.  If it seems there is more to process, you can ask the client if they wish to revisit what they were just processing.

What happens when we support our clients this way?

While the above steps may seem simple, they can have profound outcomes such as:

• Validating for your client – to have the gift of your presence and unconditional positive regard, and the time and space to experience themselves is healing in and of itself
• Creates more resilience – as discordant energy is gently released, your client literally has more capacity to deal with day-to-day challenges.  This may show up as being more relaxed, and less reactive
• Your client develops more trust and confidence in their capacity to experience difficult emotions without being overwhelmed

These are some brief tips to help you support your clients.  There is so much we can do to safely shepherd our clients’ release of heavy, toxic energy and painful memories and emotions in order to restore well-being and build resilience, which does not impose a heavy burden on our horses.

By Cindy Jacobs
CEEL Co-founder and trainer

Many practitioners talk about how horses engage with us, but few seem to explore why they choose to engage with us in equine experiential learning.  Why do horses stay – when the gate is open and they are free to leave?   Why do they engage when they are not motivated by fear, learned helplessness or bribery?   Why do they seem to intentionally work with us?

Why for example did my senior mare whose arthritis had flared up and was in pain, choose to limp more than 20 meters over to a client, lower her head, and start breathing in what seemed to be in a slow deliberately controlled way?  Why did another mare who had been lying on the ground sleeping, slowly get up, walk over to a client dealing with the heaviness of grief, and begin panting for several minutes?  Why did seven horses surround another client and synchronise their breathing – similar to what the arthritic mare did?

In my previous post I discussed how they regulate our bodies’ systems to bring about more stability and coherence.  We can indirectly change our heart rate by altering our breathing rhythm.  Our hearts produce the strongest oscillating rhythms in our bodies and influence all other systems.  When we can bring our heart rate into greater coherence, our bodies function more effectively as a whole.  Since the horse’s heart field is more powerful than ours, their hearts – also affected by their breathing, dominate our heart field rhythm, causing it to synchronise with theirs.

So why do they bother?  Why do they take the trouble to work with (or on) us, and change their breathing rhythms when they have the option to rest, graze, hang out at the water trough, or engage with other horses?

Here are three universal principles that may offer some insight

1.  We are not separate – humans and horses are all part of nature, and not separate.  When we observe herd dynamics we can see the unification of the herd, despite the individual characters.  There is a code of unity within the group.  Everyone matters.  When we are in their space, we become part of the whole.

2.  What is experienced by one is experienced by all – when we observe herd dynamics we see the entire herd respond to a potential threat in the environment at the same time, even when only one member of the herd notices the threat.  It stands to reason then if we are not separate, at some level they experience what we are experiencing.  So, for example, if we experience dysregulation, they would feel that also.

3.  Everything in nature seeks balance or equilibrium – another way to explain this is for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.  Again, observing the herd, there might be a burst of energy as the herd detects imminent threat and runs in unison to safety.  Then they stop, orient to the threat, perhaps snort (to discharge the residual survival energy), lower their heads and go back to grazing or resting.  This is an example of returning to equilibrium.

Equilibrium is a state of coherence where our bodies function more effectively as a whole, and for horses this is essential for survival.  Instinctively horses know that a stressed member of the herd is a liability to the herd.  Through resonance she will be affecting all other herd members.  While in a stressed state, she will not be present enough to detect potential danger and communicate this to the herd.  She might also become easy prey – attracting predators and putting the entire herd at risk.  Every member of the herd needs to be in a state of coherence, including us – because what is experienced by one is experienced by all.

What can we do?

• When we see our horses working in this way, we can be respectful and allow them sufficient time to contribute to our clients’ well-being for as long as practicable.

• I find my horses are easily startled when clients touch them while they seem to be intentionally controlling their breathing, and often look as if they are in a trance-like state, so I ask clients to withhold from touching them.

• We can use this as an opportunity to draw attention to what the horses seem to be doing, and invite clients to be present with their own bodies and notice what they are experiencing.  This supports the horses’ work also.

Horses may see us as humans, but we are also mammals or animals, and part of nature.  Horses are not afflicted by the illusion of separation to the same degree as humans, and may have the capacity to see that we are indeed one.

By Cindy Jacobs, CEEL Co-founder and trainer

Anyone who has ever enjoyed being in the presence of a horse will agree there is something special, even profound about horses that they can’t easily put into words.

Perhaps we are drawn to horses because they are in sync with the primordial pulse of existence, and the omnipresent rhythm of nature – which continuously expands and contracts in perfect balance.

Since we are also a part of nature, there is recognition of this rhythm deep within us.  And like nature, we are always seeking balance.  To be in balance is to be in harmony and at ease with our inner and outer environments.

For some people, being in the presence of horses needs no explanation – they are content just to have their experience.  For most people however, we are ‘meaning-makers.’  We want to know why.

When meaning-makers have a reason, their minds can rest, and they can open up to the experience.  When that reason is grounded in widely accepted universal laws, at least some of the barriers have been removed.

As EEL facilitators, our challenge is to find a way to put into words what transpires between horse and human, for two reasons:

1. To provide some rationale to others (new and potential clients) who have not yet experienced the presence of horses, that is ‘acceptable’ and within their scope of understanding
2. To support our clients – a) help them understand what is ‘happening to them,’ and b) gently contain and guide their experience for optimal change and integration

We can draw on three universal laws of physics that not only help us understand some of what happens between horse and human, but also gives us language and rationale to explain it.

1.    Everything is energy

According to Dr. Bruce Lipton, “Everything in the universe is now understood to be made out of energy; to our perception it appears physical and solid, yet in reality it is all energy and energies interact.  When you interact with your environment you are both absorbing and sending energy at the same time. “  Our thoughts, emotions, beliefs, and memories are all forms of energy and combined with other aspects of our being, make up a unique frequency or vibration that we ‘transmit’ and others interact with.  This is what horses are responding to, and can explain why their behaviours are unique and often unusual.

Most of us will agree that the emotions of sadness and grief for example, feel dense and heavy, versus the emotions of joy or gratitude – that feel lighter and more expansive.

Every unexpressed emotion is held within our bodies – irrespective of time.  An unexpressed emotion is one that is not ‘tended to.’  It has not been felt and noticed to the extent that its mission is complete, and it dissolves.  We know when an emotion is not ‘complete’ if we still feel a charge around a situation or person associated with that emotion.   Suffice to say, it is easier to ‘tend to’ the pleasant emotions of peace, joy, or gratitude, than to tend to the heavier, uncomfortable emotions of sadness, disappointment, betrayal, fear, anxiety, resentment, discouragement, and so on.   Consequently, we are likely to be carrying some unresolved dense energies of uncomfortable emotions.   After all, we are human.

Healthy horses (physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually) live in the moment.  They respond to what arises, and go back to resting and grazing.  Unlike us, they do not resist the heavy emotion, or amplify it with ruminations and judgments.  They do not avoid, project or suppress it.  They do not accumulate the energies of heavy emotions like we tend to do.   Therefore, we could say that their vibration – their energetic frequency – is usually higher than ours.

2.    A lower frequency cannot co-exist with a higher one

If we have a lower frequency than the horses,’ and we are in close proximity to them, the lower, heavier energies of our unresolved emotions become ‘dislodged,’ and begin to rise – seeking expression or completion.  People often experience this as feeling teary or ‘emotional’ – even without a preceding thought.

Note: this does not always happen – for example, people who are ‘in their heads’ and/or not connected with their bodies and emotions may not experience this.  Also, people with an agenda or a task to perform – such as catching a horse, or doing some other equestrian activities, may not experience, and inadvertently block the rise of emotions that are seeking completion.  Certain medications – such as some anti-depressants suppress the felt sensations of emotions.

When clients do feel emotional, as facilitators we can help to normalise their experience by explaining what is happening to them, and support them to allow the emotion to be expressed (rather than blocking it).  Even the smallest release of emotional energy creates a shift in the client’s body, and it is important to allow plenty of time for their bodies to ‘recalibrate’ to the new frequency.  (There are several ways the horses support us to release the heavy, discordant energies – however, that will be the subject of another post.)

3.    A stronger, more coherent oscillating field will cause the weaker, less coherent oscillating field to entrain with it

A horse’s heart is five times the size of a human heart, and ten times as heavy.  The pulse of a horse’s heart field extends approximately five meters from the horse’s body (and probably further).  In comparison, the pulse of the human heart field extends to approximately one meter from the body.

The heart of a healthy horse beats in a powerful, regulated rhythm.  A horse’s most prevalent state is a resting and digesting state, as they have to be rested and ready to deal with any potential danger in the environment.  Consequently, they have a regulated nervous system – one that responds appropriately to danger in the environment, and then returns to restoration and equilibrium, when the threat of danger has passed.

When we are near the horses, our hearts are dancing to the beat of a different drum – or heartbeat to be more precise!

When our bodies are within five meters of a healthy horse, their powerful and regulated heart rhythm causes our heart rhythm to synchronise or entrain with theirs.  The effect is that our heart rhythm becomes increasingly more regulated and more coherent.  Coherence is what allows our bodies to function effectively as a whole.  Since our hearts are the most powerful oscillating systems in our bodies, they affect all our other bodily functions and systems – which leads to a greater sense of well-being.

As facilitators, we can invite the client to ‘stay with’ the sense of well-being for about 90 seconds.  They may use different words to describe well-being – such as peaceful, calm, lighter…  We can ask them to notice and say more about what they are feeling.  The more they engage with their sense of well-being, the stronger it will become.

Supporting clients to move toward coherence will help establish more stability and greater capacity to negotiate challenges.

So, in a nutshell, we carry the discordant energy of unexpressed emotions in our bodies.  Horses activate these energies so they can be released, and regulate our bodies’ systems to bring more stability and coherence.  And we can explain this with physics.

By Cindy Jacobs, CEEL Co-founder and trainer

Most clients come to us because they want to change something that is happening in their lives – and most people usually don’t take action to make change until they reach an intolerable level of dissatisfaction, concern, or distress. This is often the state clients are in when they arrive for a session with us.

Dissatisfaction, concern, and distress are all forms of stress on our bodies, and activate our natural defense response system – this is often referred to as our fight-flight-freeze response.  While a small amount of stress can be helpful and necessary to sharpen our focus at times, it is meant to be short-lived, allowing the body to return to a relaxed state.  For many people, coming to an equine experiential learning or therapy session can in itself initiate some stress response.  So the likelihood of people being in a stressed state when they arrive for a session is high.

Clients are not their most creative or resourceful when stressed, as their ability to think clearly is compromised.  This is because our bodies release cortisol and adrenalin in preparation for a defense response – which suppresses our neocortex, the analytical, thinking brain.  In this state, we tend to be more reactive rather than reflective.  Depending on the level of stress your client is in when he or she arrives, his or her capacity to be open and resourceful to new outcomes can be significantly diminished.

Furthermore, stress is linked to emotional pain – such as frustration, anger, fear, or despair.  The part of our brains that registers pain does not distinguish physical pain from emotional pain.  They are treated the same way.  So when clients are in pain – whether physical or emotional, they can be distracted, and not as open, creative, and resourceful as they need to be to make the changes they seek.

As facilitators we can learn to recognise the signs of stress  – even when clients say they are ‘good’ when we ask them how they are.  We can then prepare clients for their session with the horses to increase the probability of a safe and beneficial outcome – for the clients as well as for us and the horses.

How do stressed clients affect the horses?

Horses are hard-wired to be sensitive and respond to their environment – mainly to determine how safe they are, and also seeking comfort.  When a client enters their space who is in a state of stress, the horses can feel it – through a process called ‘neuroception’ (a term coined by Dr. Stephen Porges).  Their nervous systems are communicating with others’ nervous systems to determine how safe they are.  This is why we can sometimes observe unusual behaviour in the horses – they are responding to discordant energy, that feels uncomfortable and maybe even unsafe.

Since we usually cannot be certain about the degree of discordant energy that our client is holding, we have a duty of care to our horses to ensure that this discordant energy is contained – for the benefit and safety of the client as well as the horses.

Many people believe that horses can take care of themselves, but many others will attest to the fact that their horses have become despondent or ‘burned out.’  I don’t believe It is their role to take on or engage with excessive discordant energy – coming from the client, and especially not from us.

Being in a confined space – even if it is the size of a small paddock, the horses cannot ‘run to safety,’ when clients with discordant energy enter their space.  Consequently they rely on us to keep them safe.

We could speculate that as their ‘human leader,’ or at least their human carer, we potentially betray our horses’ trust each time we expose them to discordant energy – particularly when it is intense.

What can we do?

In Western medicine, patients must be stabilised first before any intervention can happen.  So too, with our work, It is important that we stabilise our client as much as possible before exposing them to the horses – for the following reasons:

• to engage the client’s thinking brain, and prevent it from being flooded and compromised
• to ensure the client has access to all his or her somatic resources (body intelligence)
• to avoid adverse impact on the horses

In this context, stabilisation means to bring the client’s autonomic nervous system into a more regulated state.  Ideally we want our clients to function within a ‘window of tolerance’ so that their creative, analytical, thinking brains stay ‘online.’  This window of tolerance is different for everyone, and as facilitators, we need to learn to recognise the signs of their nervous system activation, and take appropriate action to support the client to stay in their window of tolerance – before entering the horses space, as well as when they are in with the horses.

You can learn more about process of stabilisation by attending  our Foundation Training Module, and Working with Individuals Module.