Continuing education programs for professionals

www.experientialsel.com

Experiential Social Emotional Learning offers a structured and theoretically founded program, tools, experiential activities and facilitation style for supporting personal growth, social emotional skills development (EQ) and therapy. It  is used in therapy, psychosocial rehabilitation, personal and professional development, corporate leadership coaching, special education programs, GreenCare and social farming. The facilitator training is a university level continuing education program in Finland.

Experiential SEL combines psychoeducation with experiential activities with horses, nature, creative  arts  and coaching exercises. The activities carry client’s process step-by-step by re-visiting the stages of psychosocial development. In addition to the individual goals of each client, the method enhances

  • self-awareness
  • self-regulation
  • social awareness and empathy
  • social skills
  • responsible decision making, effective parenting, earned leadership
  • happiness caused by aesthetic experiences

Each facilitator combines with own professional background and identity the general theoretical framework of experiential sel

  1. humanistic and developmental psychology, attachment and psycho-social stages of development

  2. research based social emotional learning

  3. social constructionism, adventure and Montessori education

  4. strength based and solution focused counseling, DDP and DBT

  5. recearch in animal assisted education, counseling and therapy

  6. ethical horsemanship and animal handling

Therapy, learning and leadership are largely a relationship thing.  In experiece based social emotional learning, trained facilitators guide the building of a relationship between client and trained animal co-facilitator. Clients learn in the process about themselves, play, boundaries, dynamics in relationships etc. The facilitator’s relationship with the animal co-facilitator  a) models to client what a loving relationship based on mutual trust and respect looks like (earned leadership, not taken) b) lets the client evaluate if the facilitator can be trustworthy for him/her, too c) helps create Winnicottian transfer space that feels both safe and challenging enough to activate thinking and change d) models what we teach and ask clients to practice.

AASEL® refers to facilitators who have specialized in working with animal co-facilitators. EASEL® specifies horses as four-legged-partners. To learn more about the friendship-based horsemasnhip of EASEL, please look at YouTube

www.youtube.com/watch?v=DsRzOmcRnm4&feature=related and
www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgcSXFklQMc&feature=related

EASEL® is also the umbrella (experiential sel) and utilises all the same facilitation principles, psychoeducation, SEL tools and experiential learning but without animals. Depending on facilitators own interests and possibilities, it can entail wilderness and adventure, theatre and drama methods, arts and grafts etc. It is, however, highly efficient method also for leadership training and coaching in normal office setting. The greatest adventure happens in one's own mind...

The methodology training of professionals interested in utilising EASEL®- or AASEL® - model in their own work takes a year. The training is a process, experienced in a small group of 8 to 12. Intensive workshops and reading & writing assignments are part of it. An important part of the learning process is several months spent to complete own project with clients and the writing of a rapport about the project and own learning process, theoretical framework etc. The initial training can be continued with another year to become nationally certified work counselor/coach/supervisor specialised in SEL and experiential methods totaling 60 credits.

New doors lead to new sceneries !

 

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