Big Star Ranch & Little Owl Medicine present a collaboration focused on serving parents and caregivers who are Looking For their North Star in parenting.
Children who have behavioral and emotional challenges take a special super power.
Using that skill 24 hours a day can drain you and cause you to become
unfocused and unsure of who you are as a parent.
Their needs take up your time and your energy.
You feel overwhelmed.
You know you had it at one point, but now you question the best next therapy.
Which is the best parenting method? What is the best next step?
You know you are the beacon, but what direction are you pointing?
Join us for an inspirational one day workshop
to find your center as a parent and a person.
• Spend the morning working hands on with Equine Therapy horses learning about what the herd dynamics can teach us as parents as well as the innate wisdom of horses.
• Learn how to identify what element both you and your child are and how that can influence interactions, how to handle situations and how that can ground you.
• Discover how parent-child attachment supports regulation, connection, and self-compassion.
• Learn self massage techniques to ground and calm your own nervous system so you can handle the challenges that present themselves.
When: Saturday, September 24th • 10:00am-4:00pm
Lunch, light snacks and refreshments will be provided
Where: Big Star Ranch , 17401 S. Callahan Rd., Molalla OR
Cost: $135/per person • $195/per couple
Tentative Schedule for the Day
9:45-10:00 Arrive, welcome, refreshments
10:00-12:00 Barbara Knudsen - Horse work
12:00-1:00 Lunch
1:00-2:30 MereAnn Reid - Attachment Theory
2:30-3:15 Carrie Crimin - Five Element Family
3:15-4:00 Marissa Emery - Calm Your Nervous System
MereAnn Reid
MereAnn Reid is a child therapist and parent coach. She’s the founder of Raising Family Resilience, a parenting series focused on easing transitions, boosting cooperation, and the brain science behind BIG behaviors. She loves supporting smart, resourceful parents who want to feel more connected to their kids—without losing themselves! More about MereAnn’s work: FamilyZest.com
Session Highlights: Understanding the Attachment Umbrella Attachment is more than bonding. We can think of it as the umbrella over all our relationships and capacity to regulate. It’s how we help kids develop emotional range and get their needs met—so they can adapt to challenges and recognize what helps them feel safe and cared for. When we look at behavior through the lens of attachment-seeking, we can actively engage regulation and connection to support feelings of safety. This helps all of us humans navigate the world with more steadiness. Understanding attachment helps us make sense of BIG behaviors—theirs and ours—in terms of self-protection and basic needs. Tuning into our own needs for regulation and connection is a model for our kids to tend to their own.
Marissa Emery
Marissa Emery is a Licensed Massage Therapist (LMT #16230) and mom of two. She believes in our power to understand and heal our overtaxed nervous systems, and she loves helping folks to learn these lifelong skills. Marissa is the owner & operator of Mama Needs Massage (mamaneedsmassage.com) and Certified Instructor with the international Massage In Schools Program. She has been practicing bodywork since 2009 and teaching calming strategies since 2014.
Session Highlights: Learn how to calm your own nervous system with some helpful techniques from a master. Marissa's engaging and approachable personality coupled with her years of experience and intuitive sense of connection will help you learn how to calm yourself in the midst of challenging situations.
Carrie Crimin
Carrie is a pediatric nurse and licensed acupuncturist who specializes in pediatrics and families. She is the owner of Little Owl Medicine, littleowlmedicine.com, a private practice, and serves families with a wide range of health needs. She loves integrating multiple modalities and blending Eastern and Western Medicine to provide the best outcomes for children and their families.
Session Highlights: In Chinese Medicine the Five Element Theory is central to how we view people. Each person is born with a predominant Element and each stage in life cycles within the Five Element Theory. Learn how to identify which Element is most predominant in your child and how to help them navigate challenges based on this. You will also spend time identifying your own predominant Element which will help even further in meeting both your needs and your child's needs during challenging times.
Barbara Knudsen
Barbara Knudsen, Founder of Big Star Ranch, is a Certified Instructor with the Certified Horsemanship Association, member of the Quarterhorse Association and program administrator serving DHS foster children in the tri-county area. She uses natural horsemanship techniques to teach horses and their humans how to communicate respectfully and in a way the horse can understand. Barbara and her special herd of horses have spent the last 15 years helping individuals overcome grief, face their fears, build self-confidence, learn to trust, foster a sense of responsibility and develop problem solving skills. Her goal is to provide a peaceful atmosphere, teach people the language of horse, how to be a member of the herd that is respected and enjoyed, but not feared. Visit bigstarranch.org
Session Highlights: During the morning session the concepts of communication from a horse's perspective will be introduced. As we are predators and horses are prey animals, they view and experience the world in a way that is much more closely aligned with someone in fight or flight mode. This is valuable information to begin to understand when helping, caring for and loving a dysregulated child.
Horses are communicating all the time, we just don't always pick up on it. The swish of a tail, the direction of the ears, even the height of their head is speaking volumes to the other horses. If you know what those things mean, it can be the difference between safe or unsafe, calm or reactive.... Learn how to bridge this to how you as a parent or caregiver presents at home.
Did you know horses have 15 documented facial expressions? Did you know they have a culture? They have respectful movements and disrespectful ones. When we learn what they need from us, we find they are enjoying us and offering themselves. It's almost magical to experience this level of communication, awareness and trust.
From there we will practice our new skills and spend time among the herd allowing those individuals who want to, some time to experience a horse. For those who would rather observe, you will be able to watch this all in action.
If you plan on interacting with the horses, please wear boots or shoes that will keep your feet safe. Also, be prepared to get a little dirty. It's dusty in there!