A local center focused on helping heal those who are affected by eating disorders recently incorporated new members into their healing team, horses. The team at BridgePoint Center for Eating Disorders in Milden SK, brought participants together with horses for an Equine Retreat weekend to experience the benefits of Equine-Assisted Learning.

Lauralyn Blackburn, program director, shared that the four-day retreat was a dream that turned into a reality and has been in planning for the better part of a year. The initial idea was brought up by one of the Center’s participants who ultimately said, “lets bring the horses to Bridgepoint”.

This statement later gained traction after two of BridgePoint’s team members completed the training to become Equine-Assisted Learning coaches and saw the benefits through their own work.

After a lot of planning, training, fundraising and collaboration, the retreat came into fruition and the outcome was “life-changing,” said Blackburn.

The ten participants were already familiar with BridgePoint’s programs and therefore had a certain level of trust and openness going into the retreat, however, Blackburn shared that many experienced a new level of vulnerability through the work with the horses.

“We just left it all with the horses,”laughed Blackburn.

“I am so proud of the participants, they were vulnerable and some shared things they have never talked about before and to be a part of it, to see the emotion happening right in front of your eyes, it’s hard to explain, but it was amazing,” said Blackburn.

One participant stated, “The horses were a huge part of me opening up to talk about stuff I haven’t said out lout and allowed myself to feel,” another shared that, “For the first time, I’ve been able to thrive instead of survive”.

Equine-Assisted Learning utilizes horses in a therapeutic process and is not focused around riding or horsemanship. Blackburn shared that the horses can sense the emotions from the participant and can act as a mirror for those emotions.

The Equine Retreat was the first-ever for BridgePoint and although no details have been set for the next one, Blackburn said it is something that will happen again. For now, they are processing the experiences had over the four-days before going back to the drawing board to plan the next retreat.