New research from the University of Calgary provides evidence of positive outcomes between veterans, their families and equine therapy.
The researchers at UCalgary released a brief summary of data collected so far and will release more detailed analysis at a later date. The study focused on veterans and their families who completed the Breaking the Cycle program at Alberta equine therapy centre Can Praxis.
A total of 22 families were involved in the two-day program, during which the researchers observed and then interviewed participants including their children. A further breakdown of participants showed there were 21 Veterans, 17 spouses, and 43 youth and young adults (children’s ages ranged from nine to 25 years old).
After the equine therapy and classroom sessions were completed, the study’s authors asked veterans to describe their experience. “A place to let the guard down, take a deep breath and see how the folks around you are doing,” said one veteran.
Another veteran added, “It was a wonderful experience that showed me a side of my kids that I hadn’t seen before. They showed a wonderful emotional intelligence in the classroom and a great confidence when they were working with the horses.”
When asked what they hoped to get out of the program, one of the spouses who had attended with their children had this to say: “We were hoping to teach our children how to communicate better as a family and teach them a bit about how complicated things like PTSD can be and how we can work together. Also that it is not their fault.”
Another veteran said it was a way to have their family see the bigger picture and that, “I’m not angry with them, just the world sometimes.”
For one child who attended, the benefit was clear. “Meeting families very similar to us, it was like what could’ve happened looking in a mirror.”
Interestingly, when rating their personal motivation to learn the skills in Breaking the Cycle, veterans gave it 7.9/10 on average, whereas spouses rated their motivation at 9.5/10. But in terms of overall satisfaction once the course was complete, veterans and spouses gave similar scores with 4.8/5 and 4.75/5, respectively.
Horse-Canada wrote about the Breaking the Cycle program when it first launched in 2022. Can Praxis was created by Steve Critchley, a 28-year veteran with a military and career background in conflict resolution and mediation. It was founded in 2013 to treat veterans and first responders and their spouses (or other loved ones) with equine therapy.
Designed to benefit veterans and first responders diagnosed with an operational stress injury (OSI) such as PTSD, Critchley told Horse-Canada, “Once you’ve been diagnosed with an OSI, conflict and crisis becomes part of your daily life. It totally derails your life, your relationships, your family, everything, and it’s all centered on communication.”
Veteran Affairs Canada recently announced another two years of funding for veteran families. That there is a need for such a program is not in doubt, as a spouse who participated in the study confirmed the overall feeling of Breaking the Cycle, “To sum it up in one word, soothing.”
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