The EAL Community of Practice™
What is the EAL
Community of Practice™?
- A community of practice is a group of people with a shared interest who, by interacting, learn from one another and hone their abilities to further their individual and collective development and, ideally, the development of the field.
- The EAL Community of Practice™ was created to provide a collaborative, innovative network and resources to those desiring to bring EAL to their Center or advance their EAL journey, but not sure where to start or how to expand EAL programming.
- Whether it's understanding differences between various certifications, longing for where to find or how to develop EAL programming, how to market it, how to facilitate it, or just finding a friend or colleague with whom to share ideas - we've got ya covered in the EAL Community of Practice™!
Membership Benefits:
Learn
Attend up to 8 live, virtual EAL mini-Summit Fireside Chat™ sessions per year covering a variety of EAL topics, with unlimited access to previously recorded sessions.*
Grow
Earn PATH Intl. CEUs with every session attended or viewed.
Communicate
Tap into your most natural Talents and Strengths to bring your most authentic self to your roles, colleagues, equine partners, teams, and clients with your CliftonStrengths® results.**
Educate
Access to curated EAL resources and our EAL Preferred Providers.
Collaborate
Network and collaborate with other EAL Practitioners, Educators, Centers, Coaches, Researchers, and Providers with a supportive, global EAL community.
Network
Access to Members-only EAL Linkedin group for professional networking and resource sharing.
Save
Discount on any Equine-Assisted Leadership Development Academy™ (EALDA™) workshop registration (US & Canada workshops only).
Instruct
Discount on EALDA™ Instructor or Coaching Certification.
Expand
Discount on one EAL Summit™ Registration.***
*
Access to previously recorded sessions is only available for Annual Memberships.
**
If a Member has previously completed the CliftonStrengths® Assessment, their previous results will be used. For those Members who have not previously completed the CliftonStrengths® Assessment, a "Top 5" code will be provided with Membership.
Gallup®, CliftonStrengths® and the 34 theme names of CliftonStrengths® are trademarks of Gallup, Inc. All rights reserved.
***
Must have active Membership during EAL Summit™ open ticket window, that is, the window in which EAL Summit™ tickets are available for purchase
Become an EAL Community of Practice Member Today!
Become a member and enjoy great benefits today! Available for both individuals and organizations. Monthly and annual plans available.
Organization Membership
Membership for up to 7 From the Same Organization
$75/Month or $800/Year
Virtual Fireside Chats
Leadership Adventures, a certified PATH Intl. Education Partner, is thrilled to announce the 2025 lineup of EAL Community of Practice™ Fireside Chats. Consider joining us to collaborate, learn and grow with colleagues and friends, and earn PATH Intl. CEUs.
EAL Community of Practice™ Members have access to attend up to 8 live (virtual) EAL mini-Summit Fireside Chat™ sessions per year. Annual members will have unlimited access to the session recordings as well!
Fireside Chat Schedule
Each session follows the following format and is moderated by Leadership Adventures:
- Leadership Development Activity and/or Podcast interview questions with presenter (Leadership Adventures, 15 mins.)
- Primary Content on focused EAL area (specific presenter for that session, see sessions below), 60 min.
- Wrap up discussion, networking, sharing best practices and innovative ideas, polling (Leadership Adventures), 15 min.
Wednesday, April 30, 2025 - 12:00pm - 1:30pm EST
Diving into Your Strengths & Strengths-Based Equine-Assisted Learning (EAL)
Presenters: Jeff Arnold, President, Leadership Adventures, Inc.
PATH INTL. CEUs: TBD
We'll dive into the power of CliftonStrengths and its use and applicability both internally (within your organization) and externally (for EAL applications). Learn from a certified CliftonStrengths Coach, and discover your Top 5 themes of most natural talent - which are your greatest sources of potential strengths! A CliftonStrengths Top 5 Code is included for those attendees who have not previously completed the CliftonStrengths assessment. We'll also look at the breakdown of Strengths from the results of hundreds in the industry, and share insights and trends.
Thursday, May 22, 2025 - 12:00pm - 1:30pm EST
EAL Research with Impact
Presenters:
John Lyons, University of Kentucky, Director of the Center for Innovation in Population Health and Professor of Health Management and Policy
Kimberly I. Tumlin, PhD, MS, MPH, University of Kentucky, Faculty, Center for Innovation in Population Health; Assistant Professor, Athletic Training and Clinical Nutrition, College of Health Sciences Research Director, Equestrian Athlete Initiative
PATH INTL. CEUs: TBD
Are you interested in capturing change in EAL, but need a starting point? Transformational Collaboration Outcomes Management (TCOM) is a theory of change that emphasizes assessments, shared visioning, and collaborative decision-making. TCOM permits you to capture meaningful change from the stories which define people by more than their deficit. Fostering learning is core to EAL, and TCOM makes a natural starting place to ensure individuals are active partners in their experiences thus describing the transformation often observed with horse interactions. In this session we will both explore how organizations must act as agents of change, how applying the TCOM approach can help define transformations in EAL and explain a means for developing partnerships in applying TCOM.
Wednesday, June 18, 2025 - 12:00pm - 1:30pm EST
Veterans EAL Programming
Presenters:
Courtney Gramlich, Executive Director, Storm Harbor Equestrian Center, Slippery Rock University
Betsy Kemeny, PhD, Associate Professor, Slippery Rock University
PATH INTL. CEUs: TBD
This veteran session will focus on the ins and outs of having a thriving veterans program: the need for funding and who it could encompass, where you can go to find veterans that want to participate, who we serve, length of a typical program and what programming encompasses, community partnerships, research components of the program, accommodations and adaptations that can be needed, precautions and contraindications when working with the veteran population. Any other questions people might have will be answered throughout or at the end. Zoom session will also include a "walking tour" and a demonstration.
Thursday, July 24, 2025 - 12:00pm - 1:30pm EST
Engaging Your Staff & Volunteers
Presenters:
Paula Del Giudice, Executive Director, Little Bit Therapeutic Riding Center
Jessica Comunale, Human Resources Manager, Little Bit Therapeutic Riding Center
PATH INTL. CEUs: TBD
Join us to understand the journey of building engagement internally with your staff and volunteers. We've embarked on implementing the Gallup Q12 Employee Engagement Survey twice - we'll share the process for doing this, as well as our results from year 1, what we implemented to drive engagement after year 1 results, and year 2 results. In the process, we've implemented Strengths-Based Leadership and a number of initiatives including Catalytic Coaching and others. We'll walk through the process and benefits (qualitative and quantitative) of our approach, as well as lessons learned.
Thursday, August 28, 2025 - 12:00pm - 1:30pm EST
Youth EAL Programming
Presenters:
Kay Barkwill, CEO, Horses with Hearts
PATH INTL. CEUs: TBD
In this session we'll review partnerships and results of EAL programming with youth, including our partnership with Boys & Girls Club to do a Horse Power Summer Camp, how to get corporate sponsors such as B&G sponsors a 4 day camp for both their K-2 grade children and a 4 day camp for their middle/high school students.
For the younger campers we provide Horse Power Reading and EAL sessions. The Horse Powered Reading session allows children to interact with the horse
on the ground and uses toys and props to identify obstacles and learn five critical reading skills. (horsepoweredreading.com). Our EAL sessions help children learn communication, self-care, confidence, and resiliency using the horse as their partner. We'll also review our extended EAL sessions for older youth where we use the
Sources of Strength's platform. Sources of Strengths is a national program that takes a strengths-based, upstream approach to preventing negative outcomes while promoting well-being, help-seeking, resilience, healthy coping and a sense of belonging. We'll also review our Equine-Assisted Leadership Development Academy approach with CASA of the Eastern Panhandle to provide leadership development for their teen leadership groups as well as staff. Finally, we'll cover our Seasonal EAL programing for youth and young adults who are dealing with a variety of complex issues. Individuals with a variety of diagnoses such as trauma, PTSD, anxiety, ADHD, Autism have found the EAL sessions assist them in learning coping skills and resilience to improve their social skills and activities of daily living. Individuals participate in a 6 week semester meeting 1 time a week for 30 minutes. Lastly, we'll cover our "My Village" program for Youth - a partnership with the Brian O'Neill Jr. Foundation allows us to host "My Village" once a Month during our open season (April-Oct). These events are focused around The Sources of Strength which is a suicide prevention program for middle/high school teens. We also provide a variety of other equine assisted learning sessions focused on resilience, focusing on martial arts, art therapy, music therapy, yoga and mood management techniques. This gives teens the opportunity to explode new things which can add positivity and strength based learning.
Thursday, September 25, 2025 - 12:00pm - 1:30pm EST
Hope and Activation: An innovative program for people living with a diagnosis of dementia and their care partners
Presenters: Nancy Schier Anzelmo MSG, Co-Founder, Connected Horse, Paula Hertel MSW, Co-Founder, Connected Horse
PATH INTL. CEUs: TBD
To acquaint attendees with an exciting new research based equine guided learning and engagement program for people living with dementia and care partners.
Thursday, October 30, 2025 - 12:00pm - 1:30pm EST
The Jobe Treatment Ratio: Why We Develop Our Horses as Much as Ourselves
Presenters: Tanner Jobe
PATH INTL. CEUs: TBD
The Jobe Treatment Ratio: Why We Develop Our Horses as Much as Ourselves
Thursday, November 20, 2025 - 12:00pm - 1:30pm EST
Reading, Riding and Arithmetic
Presenters: Jo Anne Miller, Executive Director, Brook Hill Farm
PATH INTL. CEUs: TBD
This presentation is based on a research paper I wrote (Applying Equine-Assisted Learning: A Program for At-Risk Youth ) that is being published in the HETI Research Journal Summer 2025. Based on existing theories by Dr. Steve de Schazar, (envisioning the future and making small steps to achieve that outcome), Anders Ericsson (deliberate practice) and Ann Masten (resilience), working on these skills partnering with horses leads to academic success in school. Combined with actual academic lessons in the arena, the at-risk youth studied in this paper showed a 100% improvement in grades and behaviors in the classroom, as well as 100% graduation rate of the participants.