Initially developed with Women Side by Side funding from the mental health charity Mind and Agenda, the alliance for women and girls, The Alpha Mare Course enables women experiencing mental health issues to set boundaries, make healthy choices, build self-esteem and cope with change. As women join together to take part in a meaningful activity and bond over a shared interest, they develop confidence and communication skills to talk about their mental health, form a supportive 'herd' and discover their inner Alpha Mare qualities.
From prevention to crisis care, there's huge variation in services for women with mental health issues in the UK. There aren't enough services that are developed by women, for women, and in response to the challenges women face. As part of the Side by Side Program, combining the expertise of the women’s sector to deliver gender-specific interventions and Mind’s experience of delivering community-based mental health care, the Alpha Mare Course demonstrated the positive impact of gendered and trauma-informed peer support for women experiencing multiple disadvantage. The McPin Foundation worked with St George’s, University of London, to independently evaluate the Side by Side program. In the evaluation, women who took part reported a range of benefits including:
Improvements in their social networks.
Being better connected to friends and neighbours.
Feeling less lonely and isolated.
Being more able to talk about mental health with friends, neighbours and acquaintances.
Increased self-esteem, self-confidence and skills.The Alpha Mare Practitioner Course will teach you how to set up and run a peer support group for women with a unique selling point: horses.
Like the lead mare in the horse herd, women are nurturers. They are programmed by society to take care of others and are prone to make personal sacrifices. Due to putting their own needs last, they don't always access help for mental health. This course will teach you how to:
• Work alongside horses to equip women and girls with life skills, confidence, improved mental and physical health and social networks.
• Engage isolated women in equine assisted peer support.
• Help improve the lives of women and girls aged 16+ who experience mental health issues as they learn about horse care and training as well as engaging in mental health discussions.
The Alpha Mare Practitioner course is now available to buy so that you can deliver this pioneering women's mental health peer support course to your own clients. The prospect of spending time with horses can motivate and inspire isolated and hard to reach people where other more traditional interventions have failed. Buy the curriculum and online course today to kick your equine assisted practice into a whole new gear!