Mental Health for Equestrians Part 3 - Optimising Your Learning

Join BHS for a series of online talks which will focus on the mental health of equestrians.

As horse owners, riders and coaches, our primary focus is on the wellbeing and welfare of our horses, often to our own detriment. This 4-part webinar series will focus on providing a deeper understanding of the things that can affect our mental health, what we can do to improve it and how this leads to improved performance and enjoyment in the saddle.

Your presenter, Milly Paton, has worked supporting people with their mental health for the past 20 years, and for 15 of those as a mental health nurse. As an equestrian coach and equine rehabilitation specialist, she is passionate about bringing both of these worlds together to ensure that riders and owners are supported with their mental health and learning needs as much as their horses are and her coaching focuses on providing an environment based on wellbeing for both your and your horse.
https://millypatonhorsecraft.com/

Part One: Mid-winter Mental health – Monday 19 January
Cold, dark and wet days often take their toll this time of year, particularly as horse owners when our hobby really turns into a labour of love just to do the basics. This time of year, also brings particular pressures that can affect our mental health, which can make this time of year feel particularly difficult. This webinar will explore the things that can impact our mental health at this time of year, what we can do about it to cope and how to come out of winter feeling positive.

Topics:
• Mental health vs mental illness, when to get help and where to go
• Seasonal affective disorder
• Lack of daylight
• New year’s resolutions
• Working with the season

Part Two: Mindset and Mental Health – Monday 2 February
Mindset is a popular buzzword in the equestrian community at the moment. This webinar will explore what mindset really means, how it is linked to our mental health and how supporting our mental health will improve our mindset in the saddle.

Topics:
• Mental health vs mental illness, when to get help and where to go
• The difference between mindset and mental health
• Threats to mental health and what to do about it (perfectionism, low mood, anxiety,
• automatic negative thoughts, social media)
• How to promote wellbeing and a positive mindset

Part Three: Optimising Your Learning – Monday 16 February
To get the most out of our lessons, we all need to feel that we are in a mentally safe environment. However, due to our varying needs, this will look different for all of us. This session is designed to support riders and coaches to identify individual learning needs and what support people need to maximise their potential and ability to learn.

Topics:
• What is a psychologically safe learning environment, what does it look like and what are the benefits?
• How do we assess our needs or the needs of others?
• How to maximise learning opportunities for different needs (covering neurodivergence, ADHD, anxiety, confidence, perfectionism, low mood and withdrawn learners)

Part Four: Creating Positive Behaviour Change – Monday 2 March
At a time where public scrutiny of the equestrian industry is at an all-time high, how do we support people to act in a way that promotes equine welfare and preserves our social licence to operate - and why arguing with strangers on the internet doesn't help.

Topics:
• What is social licence to operate and what threatens our social licence
• Why do people use forceful training methods with horses, and why it doesn't make them bad people
• Model of behaviour change
• How to support people to identify their own behaviour
• How to support people to move along the model of behaviour change
• Online conduct - why trolling strangers online makes things worse

Further Information:
Book to watch live or watch on demand (available for two weeks)
£5 per session or £15 for all four