Tomorrow's Rainbow

Peer support groups best practice, emotional support groups that are tailored to children and teens ages 3 to eighteen years old. Peer support groups, miniature horse interactions, equine assisted learning (eal), and therapeutic art and play are facilitated by an experienced team of mental health professionals and trained volunteers to ensure that bereaved youth are provided with healthy outlets to express internalized feelings of grief and loss. This highly effective approach to supporting childhood bereavement reduces the need for clinical and institutional interventions resulting from unsupported grief. Grief support groups help to reduce social isolation by providing camaraderie and emotional support resulting in resiliency and hope for children and teens. Equine therapeutic support services equine assisted psychotherapy (eap) incorporates horses experientially for mental and behavioral health therapy. It is a collaborative effort between a licensed therapist and a horse professional working with the clients and horses to address treatment goals. Eap is experiential in nature. This means that participants learn about themselves and others by participating in activities with the horses, and then processing feelings, behaviors, and patterns. This modality is intensive and includes a therapeutic process note for participants on treatment related progress. Equine assisted learning (eal) utilizes the natural abilities of the horse to mirror participant's behaviors and to "give back" to the participants' instant feedback on interactions, thoughts and behaviors. While this modality is similar to eap, it focuses more on teambuilding, leadership, thinking outside the box and personal development. Eal notes are generalized to the group process and progress upon request. Equine assisted intervention (eai) provides basic horsemanship skills that allow participants to engage with horses to build relationships, foster a sense of accomplishment, establish a routine, improve focus and the ability to follow directions and create opportunities for transference. Equine assisted intervention includes learning to handle horses, groom, feed and clean stalls which promotes internalizing the need for self-care and care of others. In clients with a significant history of trauma, abuse and neglect, negative behaviors start on a biological level. They exhibit higher levels of cortisol and adrenaline, shunting away processing from the frontal cortex to the more primitive areas of the brain. Studies have shown that touching animals produces an immediate, positive reaction in humans, including lowering of arousal and heart rate. Engaging with horses offers instant feedback and self-soothing that offers times of mindfulness and awareness that participants lack in other avenues of their lives. Sand tray is a form of expression that allows a participant to construct his or her own microcosm using miniature figurines and sand. The scene created acts as a reflection of the person's own life and allows him or her the opportunity to resolve conflicts, remove obstacles and gain acceptance of self. Sand tray includes detailed notes on client's insights and processes throughout the session. Sand tray techniques engage participants in an experiential process incorporating figurines and sand to create their "world- and are utilized to create insight and change in participants. Sand tray techniques include a generalized note about group process and progress upon request. Art is the therapeutic use of art making to address illness, trauma or challenges in life. Through creating art and reflecting on the art products and processes, participants can increase awareness of self and others. Art making is an encapsulation of a moment in time - how the participant is thinking, feeling and reacting on that particular day. By engaging in processing of their art making, participants can learn to better cope with symptoms, stress and traumatic experiences. Art services include a comprehensive note on the art making process and product, including any developmental challenges, mental health issues or distortions noted in art making. Art techniques involve the creative process of artistic self- expression to help participants to resolve conflicts and problems, develop interpersonal skills, manage behavior, reduce stress, increase self-esteem and self-awareness, and achieve insight. Art techniques include a generalized note about group process and progress upon request. Play is a structured, theoretically based approach that builds on the normal communicative and learning processes of children (carmichael, 2006; landreth, 2002; o'connor & schaefer, 1983). The curative powers inherent in play are used in many ways by strategically utilizing play to help children express what is troubling them when they do not have the verbal language to express their thoughts and feelings (gil, 1991). In play, toys are like the child's words and play is the child's language (landreth, 2002).