Cayman Islands Represented at International Equine Assisted Therapy Conference in Lexington, Kentucky
Lexington, Kentucky – 01 March 2019
The Cayman Islands flag was pride of place somewhere you might not expect to see the Cayman flag this weekend; in Kentucky, horse country, at the international Equine Assisted Growth and Learning Association (EAGALA) 20th Anniversary annual conference.
Caymanians Shanna Scott of Cowboy Town Stables, Alexandra Bodden of OnCourse Cayman and Kate Kandiah of Cayman Connection had a surprise meeting at the conference and were able to share Caymankind among the 650 conference participants from around the world.
EAGALA is the global standard for equine assisted psychotherapy and personal development, and is one of the services offered at Cowboy Town Stables in Savannah to support individuals with emotional and mental health needs in the Cayman Islands. The programme requires a partnership of an Equine Specialist and a certified Mental Health Practitioner.
Dr. Bodden, as the partnerships’ psychologist, and Ms. Scott joined forces to be the first team of its kind in Cayman assisting with mental health needs facilitated with the assistance of horses.
Dr. Bodden, who opened her mental health practice OnCourse Cayman in 2017, said of the practice “EAGALA has been a great addition to my clinical practice through our partnership with Cowboy Town Stables. Not only does it allow me to unite my two loves of psychology and horses but also allows us to reach clients on a different level with this very client-centered and client—driven experiential therapy; When it can be hard to talk about things, the horses can help to bring it out in a safe and inclusive way to allow us to work through it together. The conference was a great way to reconnect with other EAGALA professionals and learn of the new research and applications of the model around the world…”
Ms Scott continued by adding “Cowboy Town Stables has been providing Therapeutic Horsemanship lessons for children and adults with Special Needs since 2010. We joined forces with Dr. Bodden in 2013 to offer Equine-Assisted Psychotherapy. I always enjoy the networking opportunities with other EAGALA Professionals at the EAGALA Conferences as well as learning new ways of utilizing the EAGALA model and improving my skills to help others in our community”
Kate Kandiah, who practices the EAGALA modal in the UK and Founder of the Cayman Connection network said, “it was a joy to see the Cayman Islands flag in pride of place, and to meet up with fellow Caymanians overseas. We are launching CCUS this year and it seemed serendipitous to have this Cayman meet up in the US this weekend. It is also great to see such forward thinking mental health practitioners taking these skills back home to Cayman. I do hope this valuable modal of mental health support is widely recognised in Cayman.”