Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Kim Bishop. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Kim, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Is there a heartwarming story from your career that you look back on?

The countless stories of transformation in my participants are always a cause for celebration. I remember a quiet, teenage girl with severe social anxiety who had been seeing a therapist for a year. She usually spent entire office sessions without speaking a word – she never uttered a full sentence. She was dangerously underweight, giving up on life. She and her therapist started coming out to the farm for weekly sessions and she changed dramatically in front of our eyes. In six months, her horse, Norman, showed her how to be herself. She made eye contact with us, she answered questions, she asked questions, and she engaged in conversation with us. Most of all she learned about taking care of her body from caring for Norman.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I have owned and operated Bridges EAS, my Equine Assisted Services (EAS) program in Aberdeen, NC for 2 years. I have been involved in Equine Assisted Psychotherapy (EAP) and Equine Assisted Learning (EAL) for eleven years. I am an Equine Specialist holding an ESMHL Certification from PATH International. I feel that horses have a very special ability to help humans lead more balanced lives. Few things in life are more remarkable and rewarding to me than being a part of an EAL/EAP session.

I have the great privilege of sharing horses with men, women and children who want to live balanced and authenticate lives. They are struggling with depression, anxiety, past trauma, and sometimes just a lack of purpose. Many have spent years in therapy and on medication with little to no progress. Others know something is “off” in their lives and want to discover a better way.

Humans are hard-wired for relationships – we instinctually desire connection. Healthy relationships teach us joy, acceptance, balance, and encourage us to live out our God given potential. Unhealthy relationships are the source of great emotional pain and isolation, slowing us down and side-tracking us from the life we are meant to live.

Horses are relationship experts. Their relationships with other herd members keep them safe. In addition, their communication with others is non-verbal. We cannot talk to them in long, complicated sentences and be understood. Instead, horses teach us to be mindful and present and clear in our communication without words. This “getting out of our heads” and being in the moment is deeply therapeutic both in resetting ourselves to balance and in rebuilding our relationships with other humans. Horses lead the way by allowing us to practice healthy relationships in real time!

While my focus is on the brave people I get to meet in sessions, I am very conscious of the limitations of this kind of work. One-to-one sessions or small group settings are most effective, so it is essential that we grow the equine assisted services (EAS) profession to meet the needs of our communities. I actively support certification, continuing education, and research across the industry. I take great joy in mentoring young people interested in EAS as well as sharing the benefits of EAS with society at large.

Putting training and knowledge aside, what else do you think really matters in terms of succeeding in your field?

One day a friend and I were discussing our mutual love of horses when she casually mentioned that some organizations partner with horses to assist with human mental health. I had no idea this even existed, so I investigated CORRAL Riding Academy, a non-profit EAS center near me. This program pairs at-risk girls with rescue horses. On the face of it, this seemed like an unlikely and unsafe therapy model for girls and horses. But both populations had experienced trauma and were actively seeking balance. The girls and the horses healed each other and learned how to trust, gaining joy and confidence. From the moment I walked on the farm and saw the horses and girls interacting, I knew I had to get involved.

I volunteered at CORRAL Riding Academy for five years. Learning by doing and observing sessions was an invaluable resource. Volunteering is a great way to try out Equine Assisted Services field. On the path to certification and opening my own practice I volunteered at several wonderful programs:
• CORRAL Riding Academy
• Prancing Horse Center
• Be Herd Therapy
• American Mustang School

Learning about how to care for horses and work with horses is another critical part of running EAS programs. I was fortunate to be able to learn these skills from volunteering with CORRAL Riding Academy.

Certification with an EAS organization (such as PATH International) is highly recommended as it enables you to learn from experts who have been in business for a long time. It also demonstrates your commitment to providing EAS sessions informed by the latest standards and research.

How’d you meet your business partner?

I am blessed to have six amazing business partners – they are my therapy horses! Although, it is by no means a popular concept, I believe that horses are sentient beings so in my program they really are my partners. They are beautiful, unique creatures with innate abilities to heal humans. They have a voice in sessions, and we actively partner together. Without them, I would have no business.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://bridgeseas.com