I originally contacted Ms. Payne in 2013 to work with my son, who was thirteen years old at the time. My son has a diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder, and additional diagnoses of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and Delusion Disorder. Like many people on the Autism Spectrum, my son experienced high levels of anxiety, as well as social skills deficits which contributed to eroding his self-esteem and self-confidence. These issues became especially significant within his school environment where he developed fear and mistrust of the administration, staff and students and this eventually resulted in his removal from school and placement into an alternative learning environment. As a parent, I was very concerned for his well-being as I witnessed the deterioration of his mental health and the impact this had on our family.

Prior to contacting Ms. Payne, we attempted traditional methods of counselling services. After several sessions with a therapist, I found that my son did not seem to be benefitting from the therapy. I began to question why there did not seem to be any improvements because my son appeared to like the therapist and would do his best to learn the coping strategies that were being taught. I came to the conclusion that my son was not internalizing the strategies because the strategies did not have any real meaning for him, therefore, he was unable to connect the strategies to real-life situations. From his point-of-view, these were things he did while with his therapist and did not apply outside of the counselling office. As parents raising a child with Autism, we had been taught and were very familiar with commonly used relaxation and behavioural management techniques and used these methods with some degree of success while my son was a young boy. However, as my son became an adolescent, his ability to show self-control, impulse control and calm behaviour all but disappeared and he began acting out aggressively towards himself and others. Trying to employ previously learned techniques became a source of conflict. As a young teenager, he would feel embarrassed to be reminded to use techniques, such as deep breathing, while in school or in the community as he believed this would cause others to view him as ‘different’, increasing his anxiety and aggression. During this time, my son and our family suffered daily through crisis, and this is an understatement.

I happened upon Equine Enrichment after reading an article from a local newspaper. I called Ms. Payne, and after hearing about the type of work she did, I was intrigued and excited that her service might be helpful, if not an answer to our difficulties. My son met with Ms. Payne and was introduced to her therapy horse, Romeo. Ms. Payne began working with my son by teaching and demonstrating how to be safe around Romeo. With Ms. Payne’s help, he began to recognize that Romeo needed respect and care. Through this dawning of understanding, my son and Romeo developed a relationship based on mutual trust. The more my son learned about Romeo, the more he was able to apply this knowledge to himself and truly understand the concepts of respect, care, and trust. The relationship my son developed with Romeo was extraordinary and made it possible for my son to build trust with our family and be able to communicate his feelings appropriately by expressing his sadness, disappointment, and worries. My son was at last internalizing concepts that previously seemed meaningless.

Very soon, my son would begin to say things like “I wonder what Romeo would do?” when a difficulty would arise. We were able to talk through challenges by using the horse as a reference point. My son was able to identify with Romeo and his self-esteem bloomed, knowing that he had a trusted friend. He also began to be more self-confident because he was able to be safe around such a large creature. For kids on the Spectrum, making and keeping friends is extremely daunting, but Romeo was a constant friend in his life. After our sessions with Ms. Payne and Romeo, my son was so relaxed that he would fall asleep on the drive home; the mental and emotional relief that he felt was so immense. I credit Ms. Payne and Romeo as a vital part of my son’s healing. Her guidance, understanding, non-judgmental demeanour and gentleness helped my son and our family move forward. My son would describe how he would “get the breeze” which for him, was the ultimate in relaxation.

I am very pleased to see that Rockyview School Division is considering using equine therapy as a tool, and I would highly recommend Angie Payne and Equine Enrichment as the service provider.

Sincerely,