TESTIMONIALS
Winston is a 33 year old horse who has been with his human Michelle and her family since he was 6.
She knew nothing about his past when she rescued him. From the start he was somewhat afraid to let anyone near him. Michelle had to put him into a round pen to be able to catch him for necessary handling (she hated doing it but knew no other way) which is very traumatizing to a horse. Horses are flight animals and not being able to escape is extremely frightening.
Michelle's son now can touch Winston.
​​Winston was reluctant at first but
got much more comfortable later on.
Michelle is a very gentle person with ample patience and love, but after decades of trying to have him warm up to her (she did get to ride him a bit but there was always fear with grooming, farrier, touch in general on his end) she kept him in a paddock by her house and let him be.
With the Trust Technique, things started to shift.
"Hi Ellen, I wanted to let you know that when I fed Winston his dinner tonight I have to say I feel like I noticed a considerable difference. He eats in his shed and usually when I dump the grain he’s jumpy and camped under, high alert and won’t let me touch him. Today he stopped before his shed, let me walk in first, then stood calm when I dumped grain and let me very minimally stroke his neck in the right side!" He has a scar on his right face from before she had him, he was always more afraid being approached from the right side. Michelle continued, "no jumpiness, not over alert, much calmer then I have seen in a long while!"
Michelle reported that Winston became more playful and curious, even deciding to walk out of his paddock once to explore when the gate was opened. Since he never showed any interest in escaping, his human did not need to watch him much before when entering the paddock for feeding etc. Winston came back in easily but it was a welcome sign of him slowly building confidence.
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"(...) I can actually walk into the paddock with halter in hand
[halter used to scare him]
and he walks over close and sometimes right to me!"
Winston hadn't touched or been touched by a stranger in 25 years- until after the Trust Technique had been introduced. Here, he reaches out to Ellen for that first touch.
Bela is a 6 year old cat who has been with his human Michael and his family since he was very young.
"Our (previously feral) younger cat lost his mother and several litter mates in a dog attack before he was weaned. Some friends rescued him and two of his siblings, and then we adopted him at about 8 weeks- we named him Bela after the famous film 'monster' Bela Lugosi. Bela never seemed to be comfortable with anyone, and from the first day aggressively defended his territory.
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When we moved in with elderly family during the pandemic, things got bad.
What had been an occasional 'lashing out' turned into preemptive attacks. My wife and I were used to being human pin cushions, but if he targeted one of the older folks, it would have been devastating to them.
Over the years, we'd tried pheromone diffusers, collars, and sprays. We consulted vets, and their behavior specialists. We spent thousands of dollars on anti-depressants and anti-anxiety medications in every form: tablets, chewables, drops, and topicals. None of these things made any real difference.
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Then the vet suggested clipping the tendons on his front paws so he would not be able to extend them - especially not into people. We felt that it was a less traumatic solution than de-clawing, and since he is an indoor cat, he wouldn't need to defend himself or escape from predators outside. We had the procedure done, and yes, his scratches were less lethal, but it didn't address his underlying issues.
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After a particularly brutal bite sent my wife to the hospital, we were given an ultimatum... and a deadline.
​​​Desperate, she found the Trust Technique and signed up for the self-study Online Course. We've always understood logically that, of course, he was afraid, but we had approached the problem from the perspective of trying to correct a behavior, not help him feel less afraid.
My wife took the lead because frankly, I didn't think it would work. It took a couple weeks to see it, but things began to change. I had to admit that even though the results were not immediate, they were concrete.
We had hope.​
​Coincidentally, after chatting in one of the student forums on the Trust Technique Course website, my wife found out that Ellen lived about 15 miles away (small world, smaller state). Ellen was studying to become a professional Trust Technique Practitioner, and offered to help coach us with our cats as part of her clinical training. My wife says that it made a huge difference, especially watching Ellen demonstrate the method. She helped us (well, my wife mostly) get to a point where we could stop an attack before it happened.
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Ellen's interaction with him was a couple years ago, but my wife continues to work with him to this day. We never thought that we would be able to cuddle or pet him, but we all continue to improve. Now he sleeps on our bed, asks to be petted, and even curls up for naps at our feet.
We shudder to think that our guy was so close to being euthanized- the Trust Technique was truly our last hope. Ellen's guidance in particular was absolutely invaluable, and we are deeply and sincerely grateful."
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Mike H., South Kingstown
Quentin is a 5 year old dog who has been with his human Al and his family since he was 9 months old.
"Dear Ellen,
I recall when we first got our rescue dog, Quentin, a Parson Terrier, whom we called a "Parson Terror". That poor dog was frightened of his shadow. At that time, you were acquainting yourself with a form of teaching the animals how to “meditate.” It sounded a bit outlandish, but I did know how meditating assisted me, and you asked if you could come by and share your views on this “new to us” technique.
We spent an hour together, and from that day forward, Quentin was a Terrier again.
Slowly, as he learned how to trust me and I learned how to “listen” to him, it has been our greatest pleasure to have a dog welcomed anywhere we go.
Later, when you were formally studying the Trust Technique, we made appointments to do more solid work with our dog. Not only has he been the most well-behaved dog we have ever owned, but we have also developed an intimacy that in the past I would have attributed only to humans.
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Thank you for what you did for us & Quentin. It is a form of trauma-informed therapy. That changed his life and ours for the better.
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Please rely on me and my partner for any referrals who would like to hear of a very successful treatment.
Thank You,
Sincerely,
Dr. A. L. Dussault, Psychoanalyst"