Who is Andrea?

Snapshot:

• 37 years of riding immersion; 35 years of competition. Certifications across multiple national associations/groups, and protégé to eight-time Olympian J. Michael Plumb (15 years).

• Currently pursuing her PhD through the University of Glasgow, Scotland, with the support of McGill University. Focusing on the psychosocial side of pediatric palliative care, empowering adolescents with critical illness to communicate about their experiences and realities, with focus on moral experience, moral injury, and moral enrichment.

• Moral experience/moral injury specialist, certified through the Shay Moral Injury Center’s Moral Injury Certificate Program. The Shay Center is one of the preeminent, original operations offering support, guidance, and research about moral injury.

• Certified Grief Educator by David Kessler Training, 2023 - present. David worked closely and wrote alongside Elizabeth Kubler-Ross and Mother Theresa.

• Secular Chaplain & Celebrant through The Humanist Society and American Humanist Association (AHA), 2020 - present

• Specialist Certification through Association of Animal-Assisted Intervention Professionals, 2022 - present

• Mindfulness Meditation Instructor (2023), and Children’s Yoga Instructor (2022), through SoulWork

• Multidisciplinary Certificate in Pediatric Palliative Care through Cal State University’s Shiley Haynes Institute for Palliative Care (2023)

• Certified patient advocate through the National Patient Advocate Foundation (2022).

• Trained End-of-Life Doula (2020). Pediatric/young adult focus. Provide comfort, console, support, compassionate education to dying individuals and families. Services provided at the farm, in hospice, at home, and other locations.

• Photovoice Workshop Facilitator (2021). Instructing and leading participants to communicate and create change through photography.

• Trained in suicide awareness/intervention for first responders through International Critical Incident Stress Foundation (ICISF), July 2019

• Finishing certification for Professional Association of Therapeutic Horsemanship (PATH) as Equine Specialist in Mental Health and Learning (ESMHL), as well as Certified Therapeutic Riding Instructor (CTRI)

• Independent researcher/writer since 2017, focusing on grief, loss, trauma, moral experience, attachment theory, and post-traumatic/existential growth

Background

A New England native, Andrea has lived in North Carolina for over eighteen years.  She began horseback riding at three years old and competing at five years old, which set the foundation for over three decades of competitive riding and training at all levels and in multiple disciplines. Passion, perseverance, compassion, and focus became part of her intrinsic mindset and character.

In 2016, a fifth severe concussion/TBI allowed her to realize that there may be more to life than just competing for herself, causing her to shift gears into psychology immersion.  With her undergrad degree in psychology from Mt.Holyoke College (‘06) and her M.Ed. from Mizzou (‘18), Andrea began to understand that equestrian sports had allowed her to navigate emotional childhood trauma and the many TBIs. 

In the autumn of 2018, she began to assimilate her lifestyle of professional equestrian training, a nuanced awareness of navigating trauma experiences, a detailed background in psychological studies, her past as a military spouse for over a decade, and her passionate pursuit of engaging and learning.  Thus, the dream of Halcyon was born.