Grandparenting

Individuals that have a combination of Somatic Experiencing® and equine experience are invited to support the training modules as training assistants and approved credit hour providers, without having had the benefit of attending the training themselves first as students. These individuals have been essential in allowing EQUUSOMA® to launch and to continue shaping each new student cohort. However, EQUUSOMA® is more than simply the intersection of Somatic Experiencing® and various horse-human contexts. It reflects an expansive body of work that includes but is not limited to equine ethology, equitation science and research, neuroscience, interspecies neurobiology, comparative psychology, among other varied fields of study.

Students who progress through the EQUUSOMA® training may earn the EQUUSOMA® Practitioner (ESP) designation at the end of their training journey, demonstrating a degree of integration of the model into their scope of practice. Individuals who have been supporting EQUUSOMA® without having been students in the model now have the possibility of earning the EQUUSOMA® Practitioner designation as well.

Grandparenting Criteria

General assistants and approved providers must:

• Assist at EQUUSOMA® Level 1 Fundamentals I and II modules, once each
• Submit the Level 1 assignment for review
• Go through a faculty review of the assignment (may require 1-3 hours of consultation)
• Submit proof of having provided 20 individual consultations at either EQUUSOMA® Level 1 or Level 2

Faculty track program:

• Individuals who are accepted to the faculty track are automatically grandparented to the ESP designation by virtue of having met the eligibility criteria for this program.