Join us to hear from Sarah Nixon about her current research, Horses In The Prison Yard: An Assessment Of Equine Facilitated Activities Within Carceral Settings
Sarah Nixon is a co-facilitator with the Education Justice Project's Mindfulness Discussion Group, and is the founder and director of Miniature Horse Power, a Champaign County based program that supports children's mental wellness, and seeks to help mitigate adverse childhood experiences, through miniature equine facilitated activities for area families, groups, and schools.
Research Summary: From wild horse rehabilitation programs in carceral settings like those currently operating in Wyoming, New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona, and Nevada, for example (the latter being the subject of the 2019 film, The Mustang), to trauma-focused equine facilitated therapy initiatives, such as New Beginnings at Valley State Prison in California, awareness and interest in exploring potentially beneficial interactions between horses and humans, within the prison system, is growing. This presentation surveys existing programs and trends.