Planning my Churchill Fellowship: The Journey Begins!

I've spent the last month planning my Churchill Fellowship journey. Amid some personal health challenges, researching pioneering organisations in Texas and Colorado that work everyday to improve the lives of care-experienced children and young people has been energising and uplifting. I know from the years I spent living in Virginia that, despite the bad press it sometimes gets, America is a country where people are generally warm, welcoming and helpful to a fault. I've already been bombarded with offers of accommodation and suggestions of inspiring institutions to include in my visit. After reaching out to several potential host organisations, my itinerary is starting to take shape and it's all starting to feel very real! #churchillfellow24

The following organisations have already offered me the opportunity to visit, speak with their staff and find out more about how they work alongside horses to help care-experienced young people have more positive futures:

The National Lifemanship Institute in Brenham, Texas, have invited me to attend their conference in April where I can connect with not only with the NL team, but a wide range of Equine Assisted Services Professionals all working in the industry. They have kindly offered to connect me with practitioners and organizations who specialize in helping children who have been adopted or have been through the foster care system.

The Gestalt Equine Institute of the Rockies have vast experience and training in both Gestalt and Equine-Assisted Psychotherapy (EAP). Their method, which incorporates Gestalt Theory and Practice as well as human development, attachment, somatic therapy, family therapy and ethics, is designed to expand a sense of belonging through creative, nature-based concepts and experiments.

The Institute for Human-Animal Connection (IHAC) at the University of Denver have offered to reach out to their faculty on my behalf. Through education and research focused on mental health and equity, IHAC elevates the value of the living world and the interrelationship of humans, other species and the environment. Their ethos is to collaborate and share expertise with the Colorado community and worldwide, knowing that when we promote healthy human-animal-environment relationships, we improve outcomes for all.

I'm also grateful to have been invited to spend some time at the Burke Center in Driftwood, Texas, where Pathfinders Ranch provides a residential treatment facility for 10-17 year old boys who have experienced trauma to begin the healing process through equine assisted therapy and coaching.

Right now, I'm feeling so thankful for this amazing opportunity to research best practice for care-experienced young people and excited to get started!