Horse Spirit Journeys

Horse Spirit Journeys Equine Psychotherapy, PTSD & Traumatic Grief Therapist, EMDR Therapist, EquiLateral Protocol (Equine Assisted-EMDR), IFS-EMDR Equine Psychotherapy.

Approved VAC/CAF/BlueCross/WSIB provider- Military/Veterans/First Responders Lyndsey McKeown is a Registered Social Worker with the Ontario College of Social Workers and Social Service Workers (OCSWSSW). She holds a Bachelor of Social Work (BSW) and a Master of Social Work (MSW) degree from York University. Professional Experience
Her personal experience has spanned twenty years and has included t

raining in a range of approaches, including trauma-informed approaches: Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), Internal Family Systems (IFS)- Informed EMDR, EMDR Equine Assisted Protocol (EA-EMDR), and Deep Brain Reorienting (DBR), as well as Equine Psychotherapy and mindfulness training. She has worked in both Community Mental Health, Private Practice, and for the Department of National Defence as a Clinical Social Worker. Extensive experience working with Active Military Members with the Department of Defence in Mental Health Services - Psychosocial Team and General Mental Health Team. She worked at York University as a faculty advisor and a liaison between the university, students, and practice site, supervising their placements. She also served as a volunteer debriefer (Mental Health Provider) with the York Region Critical Incident Stress Management Team (CISM) providing ICISF Individual/Group and ASIST support to York Regional Police, Paramedics, and Fire Service after critical incidents. Areas of specialization include addressing trauma from the past and present, with a specific focus on military and first responders, veterans, relational trauma, traumatic grief, attachment trauma, and antagonist relational stress. Additional Professional Training
EMDR Military and First Responded Informed (Dr. Hurley, Retired USA Armed Forces)
EMDR Therapy and Somatic Psychology - Interventions to Enhance Embodiment in Trauma Treatment (Dr. Arielle Schwartz)
Deep Brain Reorienting (DBR) Levels 1, 2, and 3 (Dr. Frank Corrigan)
Flash Technique (Dr. Phil Mansfield)
Attachment-Focused EMDR (AF-EMDR) (Dr. Hurley)
IFS Informed EMDR Levels 1, 2, 3 (Syzygy Institute)
Using IFS with EMDR Phases I-II Military Informed (Beau Laviotte, LCSW)
Certified Narcissistic Abuse Treatment Clinician (NATC) (Dr. Ramani Durvasula) – qualifying
Equine Psychotherapy Training
Facilitated Equine Experiential Learning (FEEL)
The Neuro-Equine Model Certification (Dr. Allan Hamilton, USA Retired Military)
Equine Assisted Therapy using Polyvagal Principles (Equine Polyvagal Institute)
EA-EMDR (Equine Assisted-EMDR) / Equi-Lateral Protocol™ (Sarah Jenkins, LPC CPsychol.) Equine Assisted Psychotherapy Training Externship Program – Integration of Mindfulness, Gestalt Therapy, Somatic Therapy (Equine Psychotherapy Institute)
Equid-Nexus™ Facilitation Model / IFS-Informed EMDR with Equine Engagement for healing relational trauma (Jenn Pagone, LCPC)
Deep Brain Reorienting (DBR) with Equine Engagement (Sarah Jenkins, LPC CPsychol.) Many additional Continuing Professional Development courses have been undertaken. "Let a horse whisper in your ear and breathe on your heart. You will never regret it."
~ Author Unknown

Fall groups rolling out!
04/29/2026

Fall groups rolling out!

The Equine/RO-DBT Group is an 8-week Equine Skills and Support Group designed specifically for first responders, combini...
04/02/2026

The Equine/RO-DBT Group is an 8-week Equine Skills and Support Group designed specifically for first responders, combining experiential work with horses and principles of Radically Open DBT.

Running Fridays from 1–3 pm beginning May 1, this small group (6–8 participants) offers a supportive space to build emotional flexibility, connection, and resilience.

Participants will engage in ground-based equine activities—no horse experience required—while developing skills in openness, social connection, and managing stress in a unique, hands-on environment.

For more information, please reach out to Joelle or Lyndsey, and feel free to share this opportunity with any first responders who may benefit.

04/02/2026

Here are 5 first steps to begin expanding it:
1. Learn your own edges.
Before you can expand the window, you have to know where your edges are. Start noticing what pulls you into overwhelm? What time of day, what kind of interaction, what tone of voice pushes you outside your window? Awareness is the foundation. You can't work with what you can't see.

2. Practice regulation when you're already calm.
Most people try to regulate in the middle of a flood. That's like learning to swim in a riptide. Instead, practice your tools: slow exhales, grounding, orienting, when you're already okay. This trains your nervous system to find the pathway back before it needs to use it under pressure.

3. Seek small doses of discomfort on purpose.
The window expands through small, manageable exposures to discomfort followed by a return to safety. Like a hard conversation you don't avoid. Sit with an uncomfortable feeling for 60 seconds before reaching for your phone. These small stretches will build capacity over time.

4. Build more moments of felt safety.
Your nervous system expands when it gathers evidence that the world is sometimes safe. This means intentionally creating moments of warmth, connection, stillness, and pleasure and actually letting them land. Feel them. Recognize them. Not rushing through them. Not dismissing them. Letting your body register: this is okay. I am okay right now.

5. Repair quickly after rupture.
Every time you get pushed outside your window and find your way back that's a rep. The more you practice returning to regulation, the more your system learns it can survive intensity and recover. Repair, in relationships and within yourself, is where resilience is built.

Expanding your window is about having more room. More room to feel, to choose, and to stay present for your own life.
This is slow work. And it's worth it.

Save this and share it with someone who needs more capacity right now.

Follow for more

04/01/2026

There are things your mind has decided you are not ready to know. And it is very, very good at keeping you from finding out. That is the system working exactly as designed in order to protect you.

We tend to think of defenses as negative things. Denial. Repression. Dissociation. Big psychological words for big psychological events. But most of the time, defense is so quiet you never even catch it.

It is not noticing something that is right in front of you. It is getting to the edge of a difficult thought and suddenly remembering something you need to do. It is being able to talk about painful things with complete calm and zero feeling, because understanding something in your head means you NEVER have to feel it in your body.
It is never quite letting yoourself put two and two together.

At some point in your life, not knowing something was genuinely safer than knowing it.

Maybe the truth about your family was too much to for you to hold. Maybe recognizing what was happening to you would have left you with nowhere to go. So your mind learned to look away and avoid it. To redirect. To stay just busy enough that the thing underneath never quite had room to surface or let you feel it.

That was how you survived.

The problem is that those same defenses do not turn off when the danger passes. They just keep on doing what they do. And unfortunately, they keep you at a distance from the very awareness that could actually change things.

Because you cannot heal what you cannot see.

This isn't about ripping away every protection your system has created. It is about deciding to start getting curious. To just become more aware and notice when you go blank in a conversation. To notice what you reach for when something uncomfortable starts to surface. To gently ask yourself what you might be working very hard not to know. That is how healing begins.

03/24/2026

Relational wounds are real, but they can heal. It starts with understanding what’s happening, why it’s happening, and what you can do about it. And that’s where we’re going next. Because you deserve to feel safe, connected, and supported—not just in your work, but in your life.

Horses feel like home because they have a way of making the world quiet for a little while.The noise fades, the pressure...
03/19/2026

Horses feel like home because they have a way of making the world quiet for a little while.

The noise fades, the pressure softens, and what felt heavy suddenly becomes lighter when you're near horses.

03/19/2026

1. Pause and notice your body�Before anything else stop, breathe, and check in physically.�
Ask yourself: Where do I feel tension, heat, or collapse?�
Take three slow breaths, gently unclenching your jaw, shoulders, or stomach.�This is mindfulness returning to the body so the mind can follow.

2. Name what’s present�Label what you’re feeling right now without judgment.�Examples: sad, anxious, numb, shame, anger, confusion, hope.�
Naming emotions helps lower their intensity because what’s acknowledged stops fighting for attention.

3. Reality-check your thoughts�Ask:
* What story am I telling myself right now?
* Is there another possible interpretation?
* Am I in the past, the future, or the present?�
This helps you shift from emotional mind to wise mind the place where truth and compassion meet.

4. Regulate through the senses�Ground yourself in one of five ways (DBT: “Self-Soothe” skills):
* Listen to calming music or nature sounds
* Smell something grounding (essential oils, coffee, your shampoo)
* Touch something comforting (a blanket, pet, or warm mug)
* Look around and name five things in your space
* Taste something simple (mint, tea, or cold water)

5. Reconnect with what helps you cope�Choose one small supportive action — not to “fix” your feelings, but to hold them safely.�
Examples: step outside, write a note to yourself, text a trusted friend, stretch, or move your body gently.�Tiny actions root you in self-agency.

6. Close with compassion�End your check-in by saying to yourself:
“I’m learning how to stay with myself, even when it’s hard.”�Remind yourself that dysregulation is just your nervous system asking for care.�

Offer yourself something kind before re-entering your day: a break, a deep breath, or a moment of stillness.

I'm telling you all spring is coming! Sandman's shedding is responsible for 90% of this hair chaos! Nikki is my pretty g...
03/16/2026

I'm telling you all spring is coming! Sandman's shedding is responsible for 90% of this hair chaos! Nikki is my pretty girl always watching me. 🩷

Lucy's not fazed by cleanup and she helped herself to Ryder's water it's clear who's running the show around here!

03/16/2026

Detachment: “I’m stepping back on purpose.”

Detachment is usually a conscious choice. It’s a boundary. A pause. A decision to not get pulled into something that feels unhealthy, draining, or unproductive.

It can actually be a sign of growth when it’s coming from clarity.

What detachment feels like:
You’re present, but you’re not fused with the situation. You can think, choose, and respond. You might feel less emotionally activated, but you still know who you are and where you are.

Dissociation: “My system pulled me out.”

Dissociation is different. It’s not a decision. It’s a nervous system survival response. It often shows up when something feels too intense, too threatening, or too overwhelming to stay present for.

It’s the brain and body saying, “We’re going offline to protect you.”

What dissociation can feel like:
Foggy. Floaty. Far away. Numb. Like you’re watching yourself from the outside, or moving through life on autopilot. Sometimes it’s blankness. Sometimes it’s losing chunks of time.

Side-by-side: the simplest way to tell

Detachment: You can still access choice. You’re present and aware, even if you’re emotionally guarded.
Dissociation: Your access to choice narrows. You’re not fully present, and it may feel hard to “come back” quickly.

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Whitchurch-Stouffville, ON

Telephone

+19054782226

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