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2009 Training

Applications are now being accepted.

The Epona Apprenticeship Program is an advanced interdisciplinary training for riding instructors, educators, and mental health professionals who want to master the art of employing horses in the work of human development using the Epona Approach™.

In November 2003, ten apprentices completed the first Epona Apprenticeship Program to become Epona Approved Instructors. The end of 2008 will see another two groups graduate, bringing our total number of apprenticeship groups to 11.

Each year a group of 15 carefully chosen professionals will, during a span of just under a year, attend five (5) one-week-long seminars to learn the theories and practices relevant to Equine Facilitated Experiential Learning (EFEL) and to participate in other activities where horses help humans reach a greater state of physical, emotional and spiritual balance.

Between seminars, apprentices will have assignments to complete and personal phone consultations with Linda Kohanov.

2009 Program Dates

The five-week training program is designed to meet the rising equine industry standards, adequately teach the evolving Epona Approach, and provide necessary personal and horse time for each participant.

Due to the intensive nature of the training, apprentices will collectively have one integration day off each week for rest, reflection, and renewal. Otherwise, apprentices must be present from starting time the first day through ending time the last day.

Epona Apprenticeship Tuition

The tuition is $16,200 (USD) for program training, core materials, and program days lunch and dinner, and snacks. These meals, served in the new Epona Cantina, are carefully prepared by Epona's outstanding chef Art Donatelli. Apprentices must provide their own transportation, room, and Integration Day meals.

Tuition Payment Plan

The $16,200 (USD) tuition is payable in installments by check or VISA, Master Card, Discover, or American Express. All payments are non-refundable and non-transferable. No individualized payment plans or scholarships are available.

Epona Apprenticeship Program

The entire program is designed to assist participants in discovering their unique gifts, honing their powers of adaptability and innovation, sharpening equestrian and facilitation skills, improving written and spoken communication skills, and carving out their own niche in this fast-growing, multi-faceted field.

We make every effort to bring together a diverse, well-balanced, mutually supportive, conscientious group of self-motivated individuals who are either already active in this field or seriously planning to start their own practices. Those who successfully complete the program will be listed on the Epona website as recommended practitioners of this work, and they will receive referrals from us as people contact Epona searching for Equine Facilitated Experiential Learning (EFEL) and Equine Facilitated Psychotherapy (EFP) practitioners in their areas.

EFEL is an educational model, and at Epona we employ the emotional message chart, the false self/authentic self paradigm, the body scan, the boundary handout, and other tools to assist the clients in their personal awareness of feeling states, body sensations, boundaries and intrusive destructive thoughts.

At Epona we teach individuals, through the Way of the Horse, to take their experiences home and make changes in their lives, if they choose. Our hope is that they can use these tools and experiences to change irrational thoughts and dysfunctional patterns, which have kept them stuck in a survival mentality, and help them to move into a thriving place for more creative and productive lives.

Only apprenticeship program graduates who are qualified Mental Health Workers, according to the regulations of the state where they will practice, will qualify to integrate EFEL principles with their therapeutic or counseling approach. However, it is essential to distinguish between EFEL and mental health models, particularly the area of Equine Facilitated Psychotherapy (EFP).

Psychotherapy is a long-term process involving one-on-one therapeutic sessions with a client and the therapist. It requires an intimate connection and at least weekly sessions. While qualified therapists apprenticing at Epona are assisted in examining how they might integrate EFEL principles into an EFP Practice, psychotherapy is not taught in Epona programs.

Find out more about the program:

For more information contact booking@theeponacenter.com or 520-455-5908.

 

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