ABOUT CERV
ABOUT CERV
Middle Tennessee State University is home to one of the nation’s top equine science programs with more than 100 undergraduate majors, 14 M.S. in Horse Science graduate students, and 5 full time faculty. Recognizing the importance of providing experiential education for students interested in EAAT, MTSU was eager to create a program that could benefit veterans while providing learning opportunities for students. Thus, the Center of Equine Recovery for Veterans (CERV) program began in 2013 as a partnership between the Veterans Recovery Center (VRC) in Murfreesboro and MTSU Horse Science.
The VRC is a psychosocial rehabilitation and recovery center within the Tennessee Healthcare System of the Veteran’s Administration. The education and resources offered at the VRC help veterans reclaim their lives by instilling hope, recognizing and building strengths, learning life skills and reconnecting with the community in meaningful ways. In this way, the staff at the VRC provides each veteran with services to aid in their recovery process.
It all started when MTSU student Miller Hennard did an internship with Recreational Therapist Brian MsSpadden at the VRC. When McSpadden learned that Henard was getting her minor in Equine Science and rode on the Equestrian Team, he began to inquire about the possibility of allowing VRC veterans to come to MTSU for horse classes. This piqued McSpadden’s interest, as he had been wanting to find a way for veterans to be able to experience the benefit of equine interactions, and MTSU horse science was right down the road from the VA. Veterans who attended the VRC had previously been involved in a therapeutic riding program, but that program was dependent on grant money and was located over an hour away, making it logistically and financially difficult for participants.
Miller created her internship project around developing a proposal to create a partnership between the VRC and MTSU horse science to allow veterans to work with horses. She proposed this in February of 2013, coincidentally when Sarah English (formerly Sarah Newton-Cromwell) had come on board as a horse science Masters student and PATH Advanced certified instructor. It was perfect timing to create the program that could benefit both entities. For the VRC it would offer their veterans a chance to receive the benefits of learning to ride and interact with horses, while MTSU students interested in learning more about EAAT could benefit from gaining valuable experience in helping facilitate the sessions.
After a brainstorming session, the name Center of Equine Recovery for Veterans (CERV) was chosen. CERV was to be pronounced “serve” to honor the service participants were willing to give to their country. The hope for the CERV program was to create a long lasting and impactful program that could grow to not only encompass veterans through the VRC but through the VA healthcare system region-wide and also to MTSU student veterans. A pilot program was run in June of 2013 and the results exceeded expectations.
Based on the success and support of the pilot program, horse science decided to offer the program in both fall and spring semesters, running it in conjunction with courses specific to EAAT education. CERV is run on a weekly basis and students are expected to attend each session while still attending lecture and keeping up with classwork. The success of the program also provided support to create a position for Instructor of EAAT in Horse Science, which is now filled by Andrea Rego, a 2016 MTSU Masters Program graduate.
By teaching veterans about basic horse behavior and body language, veterans experience therapeutic benefit in terms of better understanding their own behavior and internal processing. The horse becomes a ‘mirror’ enabling veterans to process their own emotional and physiological states. As an example, one veteran who suffered severe PTSD lived in a constant state of anxiety. Before participating in the CERV program, he was anxious walk to the end of his driveway to get the mail. He was so used to being anxious he could not recognize the feeling. Yet, when he worked with his horse, the horse would sense his anxiety and become nervous. The veteran quickly learned that he had to calm himself in order to relax the horse. This was an instant biofeedback that helped him recognize anxiety and relax. After working with the horse a few times, he was more aware of the feelings associated with anxiety and was able to step back and relax. He was then able to take these relaxation skills into the rest of his life.
It works because one of the biggest challenges for people with mental illness is being able to correctly read social cues and communicate through body language. This break down in communication can lead to social isolation and a lack of community integration. Interactions with horses can help improve communication skills because horses are incredibly sensitive animals, communicating primarily by body language. When a person interacts with a horse, the horse ‘reads’ the person’s body language and then mirrors what it sees. Thus, the horse becomes an instant biofeedback mechanism, enabling veterans to process their own emotional and physiological state. In this veterans develop social skills they can then utilize in engaging with other people. Not only do veterans benefit through greater social interaction, but they also experience new levels of hope, trust, self-esteem, and relaxation. Thus, CERV provides a valuable public service by enabling veterans to reconnect with society. Furthermore, it offers MTSU students the opportunity to provide this public service for veterans.
