About us
About Sirona
Mission
Sirona Therapeutic Horsemanship in South Devon, UK, provides equine-based educational and therapeutic activities to disadvantaged young people and adults with the aim of promoting increased resilience and social, emotional and physical well-being.
Aims
Sirona Therapeutic Horsemanship takes a person and horse-centred holistic approach to working with people and horses and provides a non-judgemental, experiential and positive learning environment that enables people to:
• Explore and learn more about themselves through engaging in activities and relationships with horses based around learning about horse behaviour and management, employing a ‘positive horsemanship’ approach.
• Develop an interest in the natural environment and engage in physical exercise in order to experience mental and physical health benefits, whilst having fun.
Background
The Therapeutic Horsemanship project was originally established in 2006 by Hannah Burgon, whilst she worked as a social worker for Rural Foster Care Ltd. from 2006-2008. The programme provided a service for children in foster care placements with identified therapeutic needs. The team also worked with a local Youth Offending Team (YOT), local People Referral Unit (PRU) and residential services for young people
Sirona Therapeutic Horsemanship started as a Community Interest Company (CIC) at Hannahs at Seale Hayne, near Newton Abbot from 2012 and then became a registered charity in October 2016. The aim was to allow Sirona to expand our reach and work alongside different individuals and groups, of all ages and needs, in a range of therapeutic and learning activities.
Why the name Sirona? Sirona is the Celtic goddess of healing commonly associated with children, and the therapeutic horsemanship service was originally set up for young people. Furthermore, horses feature strongly in Celtic history and tradition.
