Heidi with therapy horse Lennie
Equine Facilitated Learning practitioner Heidi Dawson has started 2024 in confident mood after supercharging her venture in a variety of ways over the past quarter.
The brains behind the “profit with purpose” social enterprise Glint, Heidi is celebrating having put her enterprise on a stronger footing, thanks to a mix of good luck and a surge in support for her work.
Now, Yorkshire-born Heidi – a coach, hypnotherapist and NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) practitioner – is keen to use her expertise to help more troubled individuals to get their lives back on track.
The owner of the Lincolnshire business, based in Legsby, near Market Rasen, is also looking forward to working with more businesses, using her knowledge and many years of experience to boost leadership skills and help teams to work more effectively together.
In late Autumn, Heidi was bowled over when she scooped the Sustainability Award in the Heart of The Wolds Business Awards.
“It was wonderful to win the award, because we believe that sustainability is about more than just ourselves. Through supporting our clients back into education and employment, we are helping them to become economically active, meaning they are more likely to spend locally and contribute to the sustainability of their local community – that’s what sustainability really means to Glint,” she said.
Closer to home, Heidi has since arranged the installation of electricity and water supplies to her stables and outside facilities, which are not only home to Glint’s four horses, “the real stars of the show”, but also where much of Glint’s work takes place. This means that working hours are no longer dictated by available daylight.
Glint also recently attracted a bumper number of nominations in Mudcontrol’s 2023 Charity Campaign! That was great news. It meant Glint automatically went through to the second round of the campaign, enabling her supporters to donate 127 Mudcontrol slabs, which are vital in helping Heidi’s fight against the ongoing issues of mud, caused by the growing trend for long, wet Autumn and Winter months.
At a time when Lincolnshire has recently been deluged with heavy showers, it is unsurprising to learn that these have transformed Heidi’s working areas by improving her facilities for horses and visitors.
“It is great to have been able to upgrade my venture in these ways because it makes life more comfortable for the horses and more welcoming for individuals and groups who come to Glint,” said Heidi.
Many people may be unaware of what equine facilitated learning and therapy involves and whether it can make a real difference to people dogged by mental health and wellbeing issues.
“Although some people may be a bit reticent about finding out more, because they have perhaps had a negative experience with horses in the past. They can relax because Glint’s therapy doesn’t involve any riding and isn’t actually aimed at horsey folks,” said Heidi.
“Working with our team of four horses and ponies, clients may be surprised to learn that the experience is much more about allowing a gentle communication between themselves and one of the horses than it is about horsemanship.
“Horses are known for their calm and gentle nature, but they also have innate senses that give them the ability to tune-into a person’s mood, emotions and reactions and to reflect back how someone is feeling or behaving.
“Clients can pick the horse they would like to work with, but sometimes one of its stable mates decides to step in, sensing it is “their job,” when the others will move away,” added Heidi.
Equine facilitated learning and therapy has been studied by scientists and there is evidence to show that it can lower a client’s blood pressure, ease their stress levels and relieve tension, anxiety and anger. This treatment can help to boost a client’s self-esteem.
“This learning experience is also capturing the attention of businesses which are keen to know more about how communicating with horses can be the key to boosting leadership skills and unlocking ways of building better working relationships.
“I have a background in organisational learning and development, so I’m always delighted to work with companies.
“Our commercial programmes are an important part of our work, as an organisation’s investment in leadership and team development projects has the added dimension of enabling us to help individuals who may be unable to afford therapy for themselves,” said Heidi.
She was delighted that Glint was named Lincoln Business Club’s 2023 Charity Partner of the Year.
