Meet the Staff
For me, one of the first and greatest AHA’s came when I attended a workshop before training with Linda Kohanov in Tucson. I had no idea how much I buried fear and how I pushed forward in life against all odds. No one but a horse could have told me that — and she did. I was hooked. I came to believe that if I could release this old familiar burden that had actually gotten me through some tough situations, anyone could.
II was right — and have seen this time and time again with hundreds of high functioning people. They arrive with some kind of belief or behavior that no longer serves and leave lighter, brighter and much freer to be themselves.
Because horses engage all of our senses, they invite us to experience the pleasure of being 100% present. They help us discover new ways of seeing ourselves. and each other. That’s what happened to me and I believe, that’s what can happen to anyone who wants to live a more fulfilling life.
This work is both serious and fun, energizing and relaxing, easy to understand and deeply meaningful. It is both profound and practical
I believe the applications are endless.
– JS
Jane Strong, SEP, IFS, Trained
• Executive Director
• Co-founder, Lead Facilitator
• Eponaquest Equine Experiential Learning Instructor
• Somatic Experiencing® Practitioner
• Certified* Enneagram Teacher
• IFS Trained
Jane began her relationship with horses as a competitive rider. When she left that world behind, she never envisioned horses becoming an integral part of her life again.
For 25 years, she worked as a research professional, executive coach and enneagram teacher — helping people‘‘take back the reins’ in their personal and professional lives. It was only after returning to horses and horsemanship in 2002 that she realized how much she had missed them.
Rather than getting right back in the saddle, she began to learn about who horses really are as powerful, non-predatory animals and what they have to teach us about healthy, authentic relationships. Through them, she was able to build some basic emotional fitness skills in her life that never surfaced in traditional approaches to self awareness and personal development::
how to manage her own energy
how to set healthy boundaries
how to become congruent in communication..
She began to discover the more nuanced skills of intention, attunement and the pleasure of course correcting in real time. It soon became very clear that this work could be a game changer for many different types of people.
For her — it was lightening in a bottle.
The TEE curriculum is a reflection of what Jane and her partner David learned about horses and themselves through Eponaquest, Buck Brannaman, Peter Levine and the Somatic Experiencing Training Institute..
In 2005, they combined these theories and practices into a structured curriculum that could provide others with a first-hand experience of what working with horses had taught them.. The curriculum reveals what it really means to be emotionally fit and stay present under pressure. skills.
Then, in 2008, she and David read the news that 22 veterans were taking their own lives every day.. Rather than seeing these men and women as broken, they saw them as canaries in the coal mine.— reflections of the disconnect that many people feel in the 21st century. They believed that learning how to work with horses and staying grounded and connected in difficult situations would offset the struggle that they —and many other high functioning people — have in handling relationships and challenging situations at home and work. They were right.
Jane believes that anyone who wants to gain both agency AND attunement to others can have a great and lasting impact in both personal and professional settings.
.
David Sonatore, LCSW, SEP,
Program Director
Co-founder, Lead Facilitator
Eponaquest Equine Experiential Learning Instructor
Somatic Experiencing® Advanced Training Graduate
Certified Martha Beck Coach
David is a certified Experiential Learning with Horses Instructor. He also graduated from the Eponaquest Program in Tucson, AZ in 2005. He brings his inherent gifts of compassion, curiosity and intuition to this work and has an uncanny sense of identifying the human concerns that lie beneath the surface.
In his unique, gentle way, David is able to help veterans and others we work with learn how to make sense out of feelings and discover new ways of seeing through old patterns so that they can move from surviving to thriving.
He’s also a therapist with a private practice in NYC and Bedford, NY and is a certified Dr. Martha Beck Life Coach (frequent guest on the Oprah Winfrey Show and O Magazine columnist). David developed his clinical skills by working with inmates in the New York State Correctional system and outpatient clients at the psychiatric clinic of St. Vincent’s Hospital in NYC. David has also completed his final year of study at the Somatic Experiencing Training Institute where he is honing his skills as a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner.
David’s father served in World War II, so he also has a deep understanding of the impact that military service can have on relationships at home, work and school.
Inviting clients out of traditional settings and into this remarkably unique and natural environment expedites trust, creativity and freedom. People can explore their own true nature and discover their own best solutions more quickly and with meaningful results.
– DS
The horses have a lot to say.
Once we learn to pause, listen, and come back to our senses, the “noise” fades away and we are left with more space in life to deal with what really matters. I am pleased to combine all of my worlds with this work, and to help people find their way back home to their authentic selves. PG
Patty Ganey
PATH CTRI, PATH ESMHL
Senior Facilitator
Facilitator Trainer
Patty grew up in a family of first responders, and her son is now serving as an officer in the Navy. She knows first hand the toll the work that our military and first responders takes on family life.
Prior to her involvement with horses, Patty’s career as a consultant in the business world also gave her a deep understanding of how people who work in organizations handle change and growth. She recognizes barriers to navigating transitions and what it takes to be an effective leader.
Since then, Patty became involved with horses; and has competed in the disciplines of eventing, dressage and fox hunting. She also taught riding to special needs individuals through traditional mounted therapeutic riding. She noticed that volunteers, family members, staff, as well as riders, experienced positive shifts in their emotional and mental well-being after spending time with the horses and became interested in what was at work for people who were not engaged with horses for sport.
Curiosity about how this happens led her to The Equus Effect and continues to inspire and inform her deep interest in the neuroscience behind how our nervous systems operate and how ours intersect with those of our equine partners. She is a lifelong learner and regularly adds to TEE’s resource library as new findings and insights emerge in the field of human-animal connection, nervous system regulation and equine behavior.
She is now a senior facilitator and has a particular interest in working with the families of people who work in high stress environments and individuals who are interested in personal and professional growth..
The TEE curriculum is a non-medical intervention that provides enough structure to invite real growth and positive change without relying on diagnoses or treatment plans. Patty is adept at using that structure to create psychological safety as well as the opportunity to move beyond comfortable and familiar habits. She uses the principles and practices as gateways for participants to experience their own blind spots without seeing themselves as flawed. She firmly believes that ‘It’s not what’s wrong with you, it’s what happens to everyone’s nervous system under stress. She knows this from first hand experience and meets people wherever they are on their journeys in life.
Patty also knows that giving people tools to deal with stress helps them show up more fully for others in all aspects of their lives.
Donnaldson Brown, JD, RYT-500
Senior Facilitator
Facilitator Trainer
Donnaldson came to The Equus Effect as a longtime yoga and meditation instructor and a life-long rider, who knows first-hand the efficacy of body-based practices in helping to regulate a nervous system out of balance as a result of complex or situational stress and trauma. The wife of a veteran, she was eager to deepen her work with those returning home from long tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, and in 2015 trained with the Veterans Yoga Project to teach trauma-sensitive yoga to veterans.
Having ridden horses from the time she was eight with cowboys on a family ranch in Texas and going on to compete nationally in equitation and hunters, she has always been keenly aware of the connection between horses and humans and was thrilled to learn of The Equus Effect’s unique program of experiential learning to help bring those suffering with post-traumatic stress injuries back into relationship with themselves and their loved ones.
Donnaldson’s approach to facilitating incorporates her warmth, compassion and humor to support all participants in re-connecting with their essential selves.
The Equus Effect is a program like no other, with roots in the most current study of neurobiology and social science, it offers experiential learning that is both challenging and energizing. Watching the horses, who by virtue of their presence and honesty, support, and even accelerate, the process of restoring balance and connection into the lives of those who have given so much never ceases to humble and amaze me. I am profoundly grateful to be working with this talented and committed cohort—both equine and human!
– DB
Tracie Shannon
Senior Facilitator
Tracie is a Reiki Master and Instructor who also does equine massage. She provides a deep understanding of horses and human nature that is both enlightening and useful to our veterans. Her role with us is to keep our horses emotionally and mentally safe as well as to provide insights into the veterans’ experience that most of us don’t see.
Tracie lives and practices in Lakeville, CT.
Tracie is a Reiki Master and Instructor who also does equine massage. She provides a deep understanding of horses and human nature that is both enlightening and useful to our veterans. Her role with us is to keep our horses emotionally and mentally safe as well as to provide insights into the veterans' experience that most of us don't see. Tracie lives and practices in Lakeville, CT.
– TS
Janice Sibilia
Program Logistics - Volunteer Coordinator
Expert Horsewoman
Dave Wagman
Cohort & Volunteer Coordinator
Guardian Revival
Team Chief, Peer Services Division
Cathleen Halloran
Barn Manager
Expert Horsewoman