National Bodies

NATIONAL TASK FORCES AND WORKING GROUPS

National Association for Equine-Facilitated Wellness
(Association nationale du mieux-être facilité par le cheval)

A multidisciplinary group of 25 professionals and practitioners working, studying and researching in the field of Equine Facilitated Wellness across Canada have come together with a desire to build a community of people who are like-minded in their approach and philosophy to working with humans and equines.

The result was the creation of an organization that holds a high standard of ethics, certification, education and training to bring credibility and professionalism to this important field of work. The committee members of NAEFW are committed to creating a strong network of people who not only are working in Equine Facilitated Wellness but also people who want to work with their own horses in a respectful relationship, and to provide support, education and mentorship in this learning process.

What makes the NAEFW unique?

Role of the horse: A key underlying principal of NAEFW is that the horse is respected and valued as a sentient being and partner. In NAEFW, the horse's role is to "be a horse" and equines have choice about their participation in any EFW activities. This influences the NAEFW's ethics, certification standards, recommendations for training and more; it underpins everything that the NAEFW has developed and is working towards.

Independence: Another key difference from many other programs is that NAEFW is independent and separate from any one organization providing training or direct services in the field. In accordance with International and Canadian best standards for certification, the NAEFW believes that training and certification should be kept separate from each other. Thus when you enter the certification program with NAEFW, you are encouraged to experience training at a variety of training programs, all of whom are independent and separate from the NAEFW.

A membership and a separate certification process for Equine-Facilitated Wellness and Equine-Facilitated Learning are underway, for the mental health/helping/learning professional as well as the equine professional.

For more information, please visit www.equinefacilitatedwellness.org.

Hippotherapy
Founded in 2006 as part of CanTRA, the Hippotherapy committee seeks to provide information to the public about this approach. For more information, visit: http://www.cantra.ca/hippotherapy.shtml

Animal-Assisted Mental Health - Canada
Buoyed by the work done by the EFW group and by my research, which supported the development of a national, indendent certifying body to unite professionals, provide a clearer definition of the field and its practices, and establish standards and ethical guidelines, a national task force for the broader field of animal-assisted interventions (all species) was formed. In order to limit the vast amount of work to be done, this group decided to first focus its efforts on the involvement of animals in the helping and mental health professions, a specific form of AAT, with the hope of expanding to other forms of animal-assisted interventions in the future. This task force seeks to establish standards and guidelines and a certification process for professionals within a particular scope of practice (counselling, psychotherapy, psychology, social work, psychiatric nursing, etc.), in order to help clarify the distinction between animal-assisted therapy and other forms of animal-assisted interventions. For more information, please contact Eileen Bona at dreamcatcher@wildroseinternet.ca

OTHER NATIONAL BODIES

Canadian Foundation for Animal-Assisted Support Services (CF4AASS)
Originally founded in 1998 as the Canadian Alliance for Animal-Assisted Services (CAFAAS), this organization's goal is to provide a fund to support the development of a broad spectrum of animal-assisted support services as well as the individuals accessing such services.

NATIONAL ASSOCIATIONS

Canadian Therapeutic Riding Association (CanTRA)
Founded in 1980, CanTRA is the national association offering a training and certification/accreditation system for therapeutic riding coaches and therapeutic riding centres. CanTRA is an umbrella organization that is also vested in representing the fields of equine-facilitated mental health and hippotherapy.

Canadian Horticultural Therapy Association (CHTA)
Incorporated in 1987, the CHTA's mission is to promote the field and approach of horticultural therapy, and provide educational/training opportunities that prepare individuals for the CHTA's voluntary registration process.

PROVINCIAL ASSOCIATIONS

Quebec is the only province at the present time to have developed professional associations for the practice of zoothérapie (animal-assisted therapy/interventions). The two professional bodies currently in existence are:

Corporation des Zoothérapeutes du Québec (CZQ)
*independent association

Union des Zooth érapeutes Professionnels du Québec (UZPQ)
*affiliated with the Ecole Internationale de Zoothérapie

PAST PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATIONS

Human-Animal Bond Association of Canada
Once a major player on the animal-assisted therapy stage in Canada, HABAC was founded in 1987 (Draper, Gerber & Layng, 1990), but closed in 2007 and no longer exists.

North American Association of Pet-Facilitated Therapists
Believed to have been formed in Toronto, ON in 1989, but no longer seems to exist. Only a few references to it exist in the literature (Draper, Gerber & Layng, 1990; McCabe, 2001).

Association Québécoise de Zoothérapie (AQZ)
Founded in 2001, the AQZ sought to promote the field of animal-assisted therapy, animal-assisted activities and other helping interventions that involve animals and humans. Dissolved in 2009.