Riding for Success Fawg Forest Therapeutic Farm and Counselling Services

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1 Riding for Success Fawg Forest Therapeutic Farm and Counselling Services

2 Happiness and Health Fawg Forest Therapeutic Farm Foreward Fawg Forest Therapeutic Farm is a Mental Health and Wellness service. We provide mental health counselling, design youth mental health programs, and facilitate public information presentations and training seminars. Our service is dedicated to the mental well-being of youth and adults. Fawg Forest has provided support to our community for 20 years. Our service delivers mental health support in a non- traditional farm setting. We specialize in animal facilitated therapy. Our efforts have won recognition from the Canadian Mental Health Association for Innovation and Effective Mental Health Programming. The participants in our programs grow and learn through mastery and selfexploration. Each fall we take a number of our youth to a small horse show at a local country fair. We have done this for a number of years. My daughter over the past two years has begun to express interest in competing in the English show milieu. I supported this ambition and attended a number of local junior shows. The development of the Riding for Success program began from observations I made during my experiences at these events. I felt that the entry riders were missing key elements for the enjoyment of competition. Founder MaryLou Macfarlane-File is a Registered Nurse and AAT therapist who has dedicated her professional career to working in the field of psychiatry, Mental Health and Addictions. She has worked at the Royal Ottawa Mental Health Center for close to 30 years and over 20 years in private practice. Her career has spanned both the clinical and administrative roles within mental health services. MaryLou has been recognized several times for her initiation and development of several youth and adolescent programs. Examples of this work include the published Early Intervention Program used within the school system, award winning Aware and Prepared Program, including programs for Employment Canada and Canadian Drug Strategies. Recently, MaryLou has developed a school based mental health & wellness program Making it Better. MaryLou founded Fawg Forest Therapeutic Farm, approximately twelve years ago, receiving Canadian Mental Health Association Health Service Award MaryLou is equally known for her presentation skills, supporting adolescents, families and young children of all ages. She brings a vast amount of experience and understanding to her work with clients.

3 A sport should bring fulfillment and joy. Why? As a professional clinical professional I am passionate about happiness, health and wellness. When I attended youth horse shows, I was surprised to see so many struggling in the competitive milieu. I developed this program to help bring joy and success to advancing riders. M.Macfarlane There are many opportunities for life lessons.we just need to pay attention

4 name Riding for Success (Overview) Sport Psychology for Advancing Riders This seminar is a sport psychology program for advancing riders. The principals taught in the program focus on mental health, competitive edge, dealing with stress, show anxiety and general principal of healthy perspectives. This type of training is relevant to all ages and all level of advancing riders. The information and process will lead the competitor to self-assess and develop attributes and strategies to increase positive perspective and competitive edge. Young riders entering competition would greatly benefit from this training. The solid foundation of this skill set, will lead to fulfillment and positive attitudes in the competition milieu. The basis of training leads to a better opportunity for enjoyment and increases the professionalism of the rider. The seminar for the rider includes the delivery of information designed to provide opportunity for self-reflection and opportunity to personalize information to each individual. The seminar series is facilitated by MaryLou Macfarlane and includes a personalized workbook to take home. We have developed an information/training session for parents and coaches. This presentation assists the support people of riders, to positively develop, balance and support the rider s perspective and outlook in the competitive environment. The coach/parent seminar is a one hour power point presentation. The parent/coach presentation can be facilitated in conjunction with the rider training or as a stand alone project. Target Audience The riders whom may benefit from this seminar is far reaching. Most riders have not received this type of sport psychology training and historically learn by trial and error. The equine sport tends to focus on the technical aspects rather than the mental psychology of competitive sports. Our belief is that if we were to invest in young riders through such training we better position them for success and fulfillment in the competitive milieu. Happiness does not depend on external conditions; it is governed by our own mental attitude D. Carnegie

5 Place logo or Riding for Success (Content) The content of the rider curriculum includes important elements of success such as commitment, control and concentration. There is information about resilience, healthy attitude, positive perspectives and goal setting. The objective of the seminar includes training to managing anxiety, managing under pressure and building interpersonal skill. The achievement of these objectives will lead to improved performance, increase in the rider s confidence and enjoyment of the competitive experience. The outcome of such training includes an increased awareness and better sense of self management. This increases the rider s in confidence and better prepares the individual to deal with competitive performance. By developing healthy perspectives about winning and losing, there is an opportunity to increase the rider s professionalism and positive perspective. There are few that do not acknowledge that competitive sports are a great learning experience for both youth and adults. This seminar will teach lessons that are easily taken away and applied to everyday healthy living. Fawg Forest Therapeutic Farm