Reining in OCD: An Equine-Facilitated Workshop for Families

​Join NECOA Boston at Mudflower Farm for a family-centered workshop that brings the SPACE (Supportive Parenting for Anxious Childhood Emotions) model out of the therapy room and into the pasture. Working in small groups alongside our equine partners, parents and children will engage in structured groundwork exercises as a team in activities that mirror the core SPACE principles of reducing accommodation, increasing warmth and validation, and responding to distress with calm, confident presence rather than reassurance-seeking or avoidance. Horses, as highly attuned, non-verbal mirrors of human anxiety and congruence, offer families immediate, embodied feedback: they give parents a vivid, unique way to practice the very skills that help children with OCD make room for uncertainty and distress. Facilitated by NECOA clinicians alongside experienced equine specialists, this playful yet purposeful activity translates evidence-based strategies into a memorable, felt experience — because sometimes the best lessons in supportive parenting come not from a worksheet, but from a perceptive, empathic herd of 1,200-pound teachers outstanding in their field.