mandag den 1. februar 2016

When horse therapy works!

The most amazing thing in my project is when we are able to see that we do a difference by being there. Some of the time, where I have been working in Fundación AM-EN I have felt like my presence did not mater, as we have been a lot of volunteers! This has changed now and I have started feeling that I need to be at work for us to be able to give the best therapy.
What is even better is that I have been able to see improvement from the therapy, which is often difficult to see as the kids have been coming to Fundación AM-EN for a long time, so improvement is slow. I will not claim that it is due to horse therapy alone, but it is a combination of the different kinds of therapy we provide in Fundación AM-EN (aromatherapy, horse therapy, physiotherapy and speech and language therapy).

We have a little girl who comes for therapy every Monday and Wednesday. When she goes for horse therapy, she rides con apoyo which means that she rides with one of the volunteers sitting behind her and making sure that her back is straight. When I started working here, she had a tic, where she tried putting her right hand in her mouth. Sitting on the horse behind her, you had to make sure that her back was straight and that she did not put her hand in her mouth. When I started working in Fundación AM-EN you couldn't even remove her hand from her mouth, before she put it in again. Today we could conduct the entire therapy session (around 15 minutes) with her only trying to put her hand in her mouth once.

Even though it is only a small improvement, it is still an improvement.

Little strokes fell great oaks!
Fundación AM-EN: Horse therapy
Fundación AM-EN: Hesteterapi
Det mest fantastiske, der kan ske i mit projekt er, når man kan se, at vi gør en forskel. I noget af den tid, hvor jeg har arbejdet for Fundación AM-EN har jeg ikke følt, at mit projekt har haft brug for mig, fordi vi en overgang var en masse volontører. Men nu er de fleste af dem taget hjem, og jeg føler nu, at de virkelig har brug for mig, hvis vi skal kunne udføre den mest optimale terapi.
Hvad der er endnu bedre er, at jeg har været i stand til at se forbedringer blandt nogle af børnene, hvilket ofte er svært, da de sker langsomt og mange af børnene allerede har været der længe. At børnene for det bedre er ikke kun på grund af hesteterapien, men skyldes en kombination af alt det terapi, der bliver udbudt af Fundación AM-EN (aromaterapi, fysioterapi, hesteterapi og sprogterapi).

Hver mandag og onsdag kommer den samme pige til Fundación AM-EN. Hun har en tic, hvor hun hele tiden forsøger på at putte hånden i munden. Hun ridder con apoyo, hvor en volontør sidder bag ved hende, når hun er i terapi. Både for at holde hendes ryg rank, men også for at vi kan forhindre hende i at putte hånden i munden.
Da jeg startede mit arbejde i Fundación AM-EN, var det så slemt, at man ikke kunne nå at fjerne hånden fra munden, før hun havde puttet den tilbage igen. I dag lykkedes det os at gennemføre terapien (cirka 15 minutter) og i denne tid forsøgte hun kun at putte hånden i munden en enkelt gang.

Selvom det kun er en lille fremgang, så er det trods alt en fremgang.

Mange bække små gør en stor å.

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