By the end of this course, you will take away a new understanding of your own autonomic nervous system and will be able to see the subtle and not-so-subtle impact of one nervous system on another.
Course Timing
As a self-paced course, you can begin at any time and view on your own schedule.
Course Description
This first-of-its-kind course gives you the fundamentals of understanding Polyvagal Theory through an equine-facilitated lens.
Through five hours of content, this course is intended to support all Polyvagal-informed practitioners in their personal and professional development. These sessions are not just for horse professionals or those with horses.
The Polyvagal Equine Institute is dedicated to supporting and furthering Polyvagal principles of safety and connection through interacting and learning from horse/human nervous systems. Horse-human interactions provide a unique opportunity for cross-species connection.
Payment Information
Access to this course costs $199.
Your access will last for 180 days (approximately 6 months) from the date of registration.
If you find you'd like more time, please email us at info@polyvagal.org to request an extension.
Course Requirements
There are no pre-requisites for this course.
Course Format
Course Framework
This self-paced course is enhanced by occasional optional live discussions with the instructors.
Over the five hours of course content, you will see through fun and interactive videos how horses rely on their nervous systems to make sense of the world around them. Participants will learn about their own nervous systems and see the impact of two nervous systems connecting. Horses are the perfect teachers of neuroception at work. By the end of this course, you will take away a new understanding of your own autonomic nervous system and will be able to see the subtle and not-so-subtle impact of one nervous system on another.
Recommended Audience
Course Outcomes
The learning objectives for this course include:
Learn what is happening in our body and why through Polyvagal Theory.
Learn how horses and other animals can enhance your professional presence.
Identify skills for fostering safe connections with each other through the teachings of Polyvagal equine interventions.
Identify the various populations that Polyvagal equine interventions can apply to.
Listen to accounts of how horses can engage clients to internalize Polyvagal principles better.
Start to recognize and identify horse signals and body language.
Learn how horses live and breathe Polyvagal principles.
Understand how the nuanced nonverbal communication of horses helps us understand ourselves and promotes flexibility in our thinking.
Recognize the dos and don’ts of equine-facilitated interventions.
Learn what horses teach us about trauma survivors and why horses are the best teachers for embodied learning.
Identify challenges that can occur in Polyvagal equine interventions.
You'll be eligible to receive a Certificate of Completion upon finishing this course.
INSTRUCTOR(S)
Rebecca Bailey, PhD
Rebecca Bailey, Ph.D. is a leading family psychologist and equestrian who has become a world-renowned professional educator, speaker, author, and entrepreneur. She is a author of Safe Kids, Smart Parents (Simon and Schuster) and has co-authored several publications in academic journals. Recently she co-founded The Polyvagal Equine Institute with Jaycee and long-term friend and colleague Margie McDonald. Dr. Bailey is also the founder of Transitioning Families, a group of independently licensed mental health practitioners dedicated to Bailey's innovative ideas for helping families through crisis and difficult change. She is best known for her work with survivors of non-familial abduction and is on the advisory board for The JAYC Foundation, the Elizabeth Smart Foundation and the National Center of Missing and Exploited Children. Together with Jaycee Dugard, Dr. Bailey has created an innovative model utilizing horses and other animals to help teach and educate judges, police officers, therapists, and other professionals about compassion, kindness, and connection. She is also the co-author along with Jaycee Dugard, on a curriculum designed to promote and support empathy and compassion in children. The two joined together with Ruthless Kindness Foundation to bring the program to the children served by the Family Justice Center.
Rebecca Bailey, PhD
Jaycee Dugard
Jaycee Dugard
Jaycee Dugard is a survivor of extreme trauma. She feels strongly that without animals in her world, she would not be the person she has become. Thankfully, her recovery included a team of four horses who remain in her life to this day. She has made it her life’s work to support the equine-human connection in tribute to her four teachers. She is the author of two books: A Stolen Life (New York Best Seller List) and Freedom: My Book of Firsts. She has presented with Dr. Bailey at several venues, reinforcing her work and supporting victims’ innate resiliency, and recently co-authored a publication on “Appeasement: Replacing Stockholm Syndrome as a Definition of a Survival Strategy (2023) with fellow authors, Dr. Porges, Dr. Bailey and Dr. Smith.
Margie McDonald
Margie McDonald is a lifelong accomplished equestrian and horse trainer. She is trained in classical dressage and has applied the teachings to an approach that embodies compassion and connection. Her work has included promoting self-awareness and kindness between horses and humans. Her approach has always embodied awareness of heart-to-head connection. She is the author of Notes from the Barn: My Life with Horses and has raised the conscious compassion of numerous equine enthusiasts.
Margie McDonald
