Today Natasha invited the blog, we present a small part of his research, especially his experience of intern ...

To discover in two acts ... Happy reading!

I. The associative

A. A job creation

We all know the difficulties for young clinical psychologist to make his business legitimately out of the university. Indeed, we face the difficulties inherent in the job search. The associative may allow the creation of job while keeping our personal desire to innovate in support of a given population. But creativity has to meet the needs and demands identified in a specific territory.

However, we are not trained in various administrative and financial steps that occur in connection with the creation of an association. We observed, arriving in a new association created by a clinical psychologist, the critical capacity which must have the psychologist. This is adaptation.
The various steps we have then made aware that creativity in the midst of clinical psychology is a point of honor that we set ourselves in our future practice. For these reasons and despite the difficulties and the time it takes, we wanted to follow the evolution of an association mediated animal for three consecutive years as a trainee psychologist.

B. Innovative work

Our training takes place within an association of child welfare mediation by animal. This association aims to promote the benefits of this type of mediation with a diverse population of children and adolescents through activities involving the dog, the horse / pony or donkey.

According to its statutes and institutional project, the association aims to:
• Improve the quality of life for children and youth well-being or from disadvantaged backgrounds and support them by the beneficent presence of the animal
• Provide coaching to parenthood by the introduction of "family day" on the theme of the animal
• To promote the benefit of human-animal relationships.

So the actions are performed in different structures:
• In schools in priority education zones (child school career "normal") where activities involving the dog and pony rides are offered.
• As part of successful educational programs (ERP) which aims to help children or teenagers who have problems (be they academic, social, educational, medical, cultural ...) and to support their families by offering individualized, tailored to each situation, including in collective activities. Here the proposed activities involve the horse / pony and dog.
• In a medical-educational institute, therapeutic management of activities involving teenagers in the ass.
• In a kindergarten specialist centers for children with multiple disabilities through therapeutic management involving the dog.
• In the leisure and cultural center of social disadvantaged areas "sensitive" where various activities involving horses or dogs are available for children but for families as part of the accompaniment to parenthood.
• In a Departmental House of Solidarity and Integration (MDSI), a service of the General Council with activities involving the dog with a population of children who have an AED monitor (using child management). The link is also working with families.

Each project is developed and executed by a joint effort between the association and the beneficiary structure. A true collaborative effort and monitoring is conducted by professionals from both institutions.

The field team consists of the association:
- A clinical psychologist, therapist with the horse and Project Manager
- A psychologist with a State Certificate of Horsemanship
- A dog trainer
- Two psychologists trainees
Resource persons (ethologist, veterinary, psychomotor, academics, researchers) are consulted whenever necessary.

II. THE REALITY OF LAND

A. Coping skills, why? How?

We then realized the ground realities of the clinical psychologist when he decides to give a different path to his practice. Mediation Mediation is a new animal that has not yet advanced to the level of evaluation and the legitimacy of other types of mediation, such as mediation or body art.
It is in this context that we had to build our position as an intern within the association and thus find our place. Our understanding at the outset, both in our ability to be a psychologist and to manage interaction child / animal, we asked several months of observations. The triad child / pet / psychologist was then the center of our concerns, we had also focus on ourselves in order to accompany contenante workshops. There are many factors to consider in carrying out our work with children in care problems: the capacity to focus our attention and vigilance, the importance of knowing the animal (by dog ​​and horse), work on the spontaneous and direct our impulses raises in this sense, be installed and containing emotional security as part of the workshop ...

All these parameters we then sought to adapt our practice at any time. We also had to be extremely vigilant to the behavior of the animal to prevent risks at best, avoid endangerment and ensure child safety and welfare of the animal.

B. Instead of the trainee psychologist in workshops involving the dog-mediated

As in, after long months of observations and taking into account the difficult terrain, we were able, with the guidance of our tutor, refer to a pair of children monitored individual at workshops.
This involved establishing full and confidence in our work from our psychologist referent was a milestone in the progress of our project staff.

We discuss here mainly workshops involving dogs that are the subject of our research work. We were then able to participate in the establishment of mediation project combining animal dog with a population of mentally retarded children. Here, the entire contents of this project was working as a team. We work here in the ERP, the children being educated in inclusive education class (CLIS). From session to session, the balance sheets as a team allowed us to develop workshops on Closer to the issues raised by children. These workshops last 1:30, are in groups of four children, accompanied by a clinical psychologist and a dog trainer (dog's referent) of a trainee psychologist and of course our Chipsy newfoundland mediator. We had to learn to listen to each other within our own team, working on our non-verbal communication in order to know who was speaking and when. Time management silence was frustrating for us because we thought the word was needed, we then challenged with the help of our internship and referent are becoming more attentive to nonverbal communication, the body language of the child.

These workshops allowed children to address various important issues, like the senses, emotions, death, sexuality, communication ... but also their personal difficulties
The team was then at that time essential to ensure that we work in a meaningful way. Exchanges with the partners of the beneficiary institutions have enabled us to tailor our work according to the problem of the child and to get feedback on the benefits of daily workshops.

Natasha

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