I recently spoke (quite poorly) at an equine symposium, the first ever, on Prince Edward Island. It was a great thing for groups of people in different areas of the industry to come together and talk about the one thing they have in common: horses.
After I spoke I was approached by a few people who were glad to hear of my work with high risk youth and kids, however I was also approached by one in particular who was not. This person is someone I have a deep respect for professionally and personally, which is perhaps why her reaction to my work stung more than it should have. She thought I was a fraud.
We spoke candidly for a time and I hope we have a better understanding although it occurred to me that if one person was saying it others were thinking it. So here I am to set the record straight and hopefully alleviate any other misconceptions.
My name is Rena Ellen Jones and I own The Hughes-Jones Centre for People and Animals (HJC). At HJC we work with a variety of clients but have specific interest in working with high risk youth. We use horses in our work to help clients better understand relationships and learn skills to help them better navigate through life. Criticism exists to tell me that this is not a 'new and unique' idea - and I've never claimed it was. Our centre is new and unique and so is our approach but our values are quite traditional. We do not claim to be a cure all and we are certainly not counselling our clients - we facilitate experiences with horses and make those experiences available to the people we feel need it most.
So wouldn't any riding stable do similar things?
I'm an advocate for working with horses in any capacity, I believe we can learn something from every coach and every animal. However, the primary focus at HJC is working with high risk youth and going out of our way to get to the kids that need it most. We are not a competitive stable, we do not train kids to compete. We do not focus on riding the horses. We work from the ground up trying to provide a safe place, consistency, collaborating with the youth their youth workers, social workers, parents etc to create a learning environment and goals specific to them.
What makes me qualified?
After all I don't have any letters after my name, nor do I have any affiliation with national horse or mental health associations. This is a conscious decision, a choice made out of necessity on moral grounds. I am NOT a certified coach through Equine Canada and more importantly I do not want to be certified through that organization. I have ridden and worked with horses all across North America, Europe, Asia and Oceania where I taught clients from all over the world. There are many schools of thought on how to work safely and effectively with horses and i have been fortunate enough to learn from many horse people and horses locally and abroad. I am proud of my experiences, of what I've learned and I do not pretend to hide from it. I have received Certification from the University of Guelph Kemptville Campus in Equine Management, for those who prefer to rest on written qualifications and they have invited me back to participate as a guest lecturer and to ask my advice on their own programs involving horses and youth.
When it comes to the part of my job that involves working closely with people I sought training as a counsellor. I did not do this to become a 'counsellor' I chose to attend the Counsellor Training Institute in Halifax so I could better understand the relationship between people and horses. To understand both sides of the equation and to build programs that people could relate to.
In conclusion HJC is a collaborative endeavor. It involves the workers who know the children best and does not make claims that we can 'fix' or 'save' anyone. We are a facility which works hard to get the message out that we exist as a resource for social workers, counsellors, youth workers and therapists to use in order to help their clients achieve their goals. We believe our approach to be holistic and effective when used correctly and in need of research to further develop.
Responsibility is a huge factor for us and as we continue to grow we invite constructive criticism in order to do so with grace and achieve great things for the people who need them most.
Our greatest achievement to date is this: the kids that come to us once, keep coming back.
