Istanbul Yeni Harbiye Lions Club

2011-2012 Signature Project : "My Horse is My Door to Life" Project

The signature project of Yeni Harbiye Lions Club in 2011-2012 is about Hippotherapy.

This is our all blog posts about our project.

Within the scope of this project, Hippotheraphy treatment of 10 kids that have physical and/or mental disablities, otism and down sendrome for a certain time period, will be sponsored by our club.

Health Development of Kids will be reported to our club by the specialists.

These are the institutions that support us with their expertise and sponsorship, while we carry out our project:

1. Istanbul Sisli Municipality (for transportations)

2. Rain Children Special Training and Rehabilitation Center

(The Center for the children with special needs)

3. Göllü Riding Center (The Area for Hippotherapy)

The Aim of the Project

To provide free Hippotherapy sessions to ten financially unable children with ages ranging from 4 – 21 to;
1. Have them have a positive outlook of their disability,
2. Direct them in the positive direction in their sociological and psychological inefficiencies.
To provide psychological support to the families of these children to;
1. Be able to manage life, worry and destiny.
To create awareness about Hippotherapy as a therapy branch.

The groups of disabilities discovered by the experts at the rehabilitation center is as follows:

· Dawn Syndrome

· Autism

· Cerebral Palsy

· Various stages of mental deficiency

· Loss of motor functions

· Loss of balance

· Misconnections in social life and self management due to the aforementioned

Hippotherapy uses riding as a method to strengthen the emotional cycles of adults and children, improve concentration, posture, balance and muscle structure.

It also helps develop the perception and physical functions of those with mental and physical disabilities.

Hippotherapy sessions are conducted under the supervision of skilled and licensed therapists. It is a different and effective method for those with problems communicating, delayed perception, difficulty in learning and speech, and those who has autism and people with mental or physical disabilities.

First Subproject: Teaching handicraft work to kids with special needs and their families in order to let them keep themselves busy and acquire them skills.

We have started our first subproject, which is being carried out as a supportive to our main project, on August 30, 2011:

Teaching handicraft work to kids with special needs and their families in order to let them keep themselves busy and acquire them skills.

Ms. Ln. Şahnar Boşnak, who can create a completely different image out of a picture from a calender by decorating it with a little piece of lace and a piece of wool, is leading this project.

Ten students of her are teaching handicrafts to the kids and their parents at Rain Children Special Education and Rehabilitation Center, as the project.

She is doing this all voluntarely and emphasizes that she is happy to trasfer her knowledge to them and spend time with them.

By this project, our aim is to be able to create a time that can be spent by usefull work for the kids that require special attention and their families, watch them while gaining skill and share our happiness with them.

This is what we hope and this is what we wish for.

We are planning on to continue this project untill this serving period ends.

Second Subproject: Pycological support for the familes of kids in our main project.

We have started our second subproject, which is being carried out as a supportive to our main project, on August 26, 2011:

Pycological support for the familes of kids in our main project.

Psychologist Ms. Nursel Tunç, whom we shared the details of our project earlier, expressed that she wants to support families voluntarely and joined us. Having her on our side, sustained both us and families while appoaching kids to communicate.

Earlier, we have tried to feel and express what the familes of kids are handeling emotionally in the post; “You can’t imagine what they go through.”

However, from now on, we will be sharing scientific appoach and evaluations of Ms. Nursel Tunç. The next post going to be completely based on her determinations. We also will be sharing her notes as she deems to be necessary.

Ms. Nursel Tunç mentions her will to maintain her voluntary work as long as we maintain the main project. We would like to indicate that we are happy to see her with us and that we are proud of her voluntary effort. We also would like to thank her.