The 5th Nordic Research Seminar on Equine-assisted Interventions 2024
The Swedish organization of Equine-assisted interventions (OHI) and Halmstad University welcomes you to the 5th Nordic seminar on Equine-assisted interventions 2024. The seminar is held in the form of a two-day conference embracing Equine-assisted interventions to support health, learning, and activity irrespective of physical or mental disability.
On September 12–13, 2024, Halmstad University have the pleasure of hosting the 5th Nordic Research Seminar on Equine-assisted Interventions with the theme Equine-assisted interventions for sustainable health, performance and participation. The conference welcomes researchers, practitioners, and stakeholders in the field of equine assisted interventions as well as decision makers and politicians at various levels within the health care sector and related areas.
The conference aims to offer the participants access to recent research results and the opportunity to exchange experiences regarding equine assisted interventions in the field of sustainable health, learning and activities for all members of society. The topic of evidence-based practice is an important fundamental aspect and constitutes a unique opportunity to define areas that need to be established with the help of high-quality research and development work as well as collaboration in and around equine-assisted services. The seminar is an exclusive opportunity for both researchers and practitioners from all over the Nordic countries to jointly increase knowledge about equine assisted interventions.
Registration
- Participants whose abstracts are accepted for oral presentation or poster – no fee
- Ordinary Attendee fee: 750 SEK (150 SEK VAT included)
The registration fee covers lunches, snacks/coffee/tea breaks during conference days and conference dinner at Halmstad Plaza but is excl. travel and accommodation.
- Participants attending digitally: 250 SEK (50 SEK VAT included)
Digital participation allows you to access parts of the conference, such as keynote speakers. There is no option to attend in person without changing your registration to a regular participant fee, as long as the registration is open.
Programme day 1
09:30–10.00 Registration
10.00–10.15 Introduction – Henrika Jormfeldt, Anna-Maria Palsdottir and Elisabeth Argentzell
10.15–10.50 Keynote Speaker – Henrika Jormfeldt, Professor of Nursing
How to make holistic Equine-assisted services fit in a specialised health care and support system – barriers and benefits.
11.00–12.15 Part 1: Peer reviewed oral presentation on “Equine Assisted interventions – Relationships to Promote Health and Recovery”
12.15–13.30 Lunch and poster presentation
13.30–14.00 Keynote Speaker – Tobba Therkildsen Sudmann
Norwegian perspective – social exclusion, substance abuse and dementia
14.00–15.00 Part 2: Peer reviewed oral presentation on on “Experiences from equine-assisted and nature-based interventions”
15.00–15.30 Coffee break and poster presentation
15.30–16.15 Part 3: Peer reviewed oral presentation on on “Impact of Equine assisted interventions”
16.15–17.00 Keynote Speaker – Nina Ekholm Fry
Trauma informed Equine assisted services – a Finnish and American perspective
19.00 Dinner with entertainment at Halmstad Plaza
Part 1: peer reviewed oral presentations on “Equine Assisted interventions – Relationships to Promote Health and Recovery”
Taking a One Health approach to Equine Assisted Interventions by engaging a multispecies triad perspective.
Andrea Petitt, University of Liège, Belgium
Henrik Lerner, Department of Health Care Sciences, Marie Cederschiöld University, Sweden.
Horses in Equine-Assisted Services – working on a relationship toward Human Health.
Inês Pereira-Figueiredo, ThekidsFellows Research Group in Anthrozoology, Portugal and Institute of Neurosciences of Castilla y León, Spain and University of Salamanca, Spain.
Tiago Mendonça, ThekidsFellows Research Group in Anthrozoology, Portugal and Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Lusófona University, Portugal and Animal and Veterinary Research Center (CECAV), Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Lusófona University – Lisbon University Center, Portugal.
Ana Rita Matias, ThekidsFellows Research Group in Anthrozoology, Portugal and Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Lusófona University, Portugal.
Graça Duarte Santos, ThekidsFellows Research Group in Anthrozoology, Portugal and Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Lusófona University, Portugal.
Equine Assisted Psychological Treatment (EAPT) according to CBT and ACT in a primary care context
Emma Lindeblad, Clinical psychologist and psychotherapist in CBT; PhD in Psychology, Region Kronoberg och Linnéuniversitetet, Sweden
Experiences of Equine-assisted psychotherapy (EAP) from Stallen Gaustad at Oslo University Hospital.
Christina Thorpe, nurse and equine-assisted therapist at Stallen Gaustad, Oslo University Hospital, Norway
A process of embodied recovery from stress-related mental health problems. Exploring and explaining the process of personal recovery from participating in a nature-based intervention including equine-assisted therapy.
Marie Gudmundsson, PhD student, Department of Health Sciences, Lunds Universitet, Sweden
Part 2: peer reviewed oral presentations on “Experiences from equine-assisted and nature-based interventions”
A therapeutic equine-assisted group intervention- experiences among people with common mental disorders on sick leave.
Linda Fridén, PhD-student, Halmstad University, Sweden
Equine assisted education for students with problematic school situations
Malin Larsson, MSc in agriculture with a major in animal science MSc in environmental psychology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Sweden
Young people's experiences of Equine-Facilitated Therapy (EFT) in promoting psychological functioning
Hanna Huttunen, Occupational Therapist, Equine-Facilitated Therapist, Master´s Degree in Health Sciences University of Oulu, Finland
Participation and inclusion for persons with intellectual disabilities in horse related activities
Marie Gustavsson & Susanne Larsson, Division of Social Work, Department of Culture and Society, Linköping university, Sweden
Part 3: Peer reviewed oral presentations on “Impact of Equine assisted interventions”
Animal-assisted and nature-based intervention with horses for young adults with autism and social withdrawal, A feasibility study with a health economic perspective
Sara Holmberg, MD, associate professor, Department of Research and Development, Region Kronoberg, Sweden.
The movement of the horse building parameters of walk for chronic low back pain patients (CLBP)
Mattila-Rautiainen Sanna, Biomedicine, University of Eastern Finland, Finland.
Intensive mounted equine assisted intervention - Impact on speech, breathing and well-being.
Margareta Håkanson, Department of Animal Environment and Health, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Sweden.
Physiotherapists’ experiences of Equine assisted therapy: A way to reach several levels of movement simultaneously
Matilda Uggla, Master’s Programme in Physiotherapy (2023), Umeå University, Sweden.
Programme day 2
09.15–10.00 Equine assisted interventions during 30 years-milestones reached and challenges to come – Margareta Håkanson, OHI Research Network
10.00–10.30 Coffee Break and poster presentation
10.30–11.30 Panel dialogue
Panel dialogue led by The Swedish Horse Industry Foundation (HNS) with representatives of politics, OHI, researchers and practitioners in the field regarding what needs to be done to make Equine-assisted interventions available to those who need it. The panel dialogue will be held in Swedish, while the dialogue with the panel will be summarized and translated into English.
11.30–12.00 Closure and information about upcoming conference/seminar regarding Nature based health at SLU Alnarp 2025
12.00–13.20 Lunch poster presentation
13.20–15.00 Workshops in smaller groups based on, geographical or activity-specific focus
15.00–15.10 Take away fika
Keynote speakers
Henrika Jormfeldt
Henrika Jormfeldt, licensed specialist nurse specializing in psychiatry and mental health, Professor of Nursing at the Halmstad University and certified by OHI (the Organization of Equine-assisted Intervention) to perform horse-assisted interventions. Henrika is a member of the HETI executive committee (The Federation of Horses in education and Therapy International) and has over 50 years of experience with horses. Her recent research is about equine assisted interventions for people with mental health condition through lifespan and she runs equine-assisted therapy on a small scale at “Braddared's horse” with three horses involved that are all her own breeding’s.
Tobba Sudmann
Tobba Sudmann, full Professor of Public Health, physiotherapist and medical sociologist, and academic head of the PhD-program Health, functioning and participation at Western Norway University of Applied Sciences. She has her own adjunct practice where she offers equine-facilitated physiotherapy. Her research focus on how people use their bodily resources to enhance their well-being and social participation, whether the means are in- or outdoor physical activity, technology, nature, or horses. Professor Sudmann is currently studying physical activities for persons with dementia, crisis shelters for persons with substance dependency, horses in mental health work (including substance use), and green social work with horses.
Nina Ekholm Fry
Nina Ekholm Fry is the Director of Equine Programs at University of Denver’s Institute for Human-Animal Connection in Denver in Colorado (USA) and a faculty member in the Graduate School of Social Work and the Graduate School of Professional Psychology. She is the coordinator of the Human-Animal-Environment Interactions in Social Work specialization within the Master of Social Work program and leads the Post-Master’s Equine-Assisted Mental Health Practitioner Certificate program. For the past 15 years, her work has included animals in human services with a focus on equine interactions in psychotherapy and counseling. Nina serves as an advisor to the State of Massachusetts Bureau of Substance Addiction Services on matters related to mental health services in green environments. She has a background as a psychologist specializing in trauma treatment and as an equine behavior consultant. Nina has a particular interest in applied ethics and social justice perspectives within human-animal interactions and is actively engaged in national and international organizations for both human and equine wellbeing.
Accommodation
Halmstad University has deals with three different hotels near the campus. Before the conference, you can book one of them at a good price. As a participant during the conference, you book and pay for hotel yourself.
Halmstad Plaza
Booking through link: HUI2024
External link.
Last day for booking: 2024-08-12
Price and room type
Double room: SEK 1.241 per night
Single room: SEK 1.044 per night
Breakfast included. The prices are excluding VAT.
Contact
Website: Halmstad Plaza External link.
Telephone: +46 35 240 10 00
Kaptenshamn Hotell & Vandrarhem
Booking through website: Kaptenshamn External link.
Price and room type
Single room (with shared bathroom): SEK 595 per night
Single room (with private bathroom): SEK 895 per night
Double room (with shared bathroom): SEK 895 per night
Breakfast not included.
Contact
Website:
E-mail: info@kaptenshamn.com
Telephone: +46 35-12 04 00 or +46 73 721 24 00
Travelling options
When making travel arrangements you can choose to fly to any of the three different airports below.
Copenhagen Airport – Copenhagen (Denmark)
Approximately 2 hours to Halmstad C with direct trains and buses.
- Train: travel from Copenhagen Airport to Halmstad C
- Bus: Travel from Kastrup Terminal 2 to Halmstad Regionbussterminal
Landvetter Airport – Gothenburg (Sweden)
Approximately 2 hours from Halmstad with a few options of buses and trains.
- Train: Take the Airport Coach from Landvetter Airport to the Central Station, Nils Ericsson Terminal, downtown Gothenburg. Then you take the train from Gothenburg to Halmstad.
- Bus: Take the Airport Coach from Landvetter Airport to the Central Station, Nils Ericsson Terminal, downtown Gothenburg. Then you take the bus from Gothenburg, Nils Ericsson Terminal to Halmstad Regionbussterminal.
Arlanda Airport – Stockholm (Sweden)
Stockholm is a 4 to 5 hour train ride from Halmstad, but some students may still prefer to arrive in Stockholm.
- Train alternative 1: You can take the long distance train to Halmstad: travel from Arlanda C to Halmstad C. You will have to change trains somewhere along the route.
- Train alternative 2: Take the Arlanda Express Train or the Airport Shuttle to Stockholm Central Station. From there you can take a train to Halmstad C. Travel from Stockholm C to Halmstad C. You may have to change trains somewhere along the route.
- You can also travel by bus via Gothenburg. Travel from Stockholm City Terminal to Nils Ericson Terminal and then from there to Halmstad Regionbussterminal.
Halmstad University – where different perspectives meet
Halmstad University prepares people for the future by creating values, driving innovation and developing society. Since the beginning in 1983, the University has been characterised as forward-thinking and cross-border. Halmstad University is known for its popular and reality-based programmes and small student groups. Today, the University has around 11,000 students (approximately 5,200 full-time students) and offers around 50 programmes and over 130 courses within several subject fields.
Research for innovation
The research at Halmstad University is internationally renowned and is pursued in interdisciplinary innovation and research environments. The University takes an active part in the development of society through extensive and recognised collaboration with both the private and public sector.
Experience Sweden, Halland and Halmstad
Funding and financiers
This conference was made possible with the help of funding from the following financiers:
Collaboration partners
