Lead-Up strives to break cycles of violence and poverty by creating emotionally stable, assertive and peaceful youth leaders, through groundbreaking workshops with horses. LUI strives to break cycles of violence and poverty and bridge divides by creating emotionally stable, assertive and peaceful youth leaders, through innovative and groundbreaking workshops with horses. At LUI we agree that emoti
onal intelligence; the ability to identify, manage and express one's emotions, as well as the emotions of others is the key to both personal and professional success. We believe that one of the main factors that hold at-risk youth back from breaking the chains of violence and poverty is a lack of emotional intelligence. This absence prevents them from making rational, conscious decisions and healthy life choices. During Lead-Up workshops youth learn during specialized exercises in mindfulness and innovative interactions with horses to observe and manage all levels of their non-verbal communication and emotions. At the core of the program is the exercise of Join-Up®; the unique trust and respect building interaction between a human and a horse developed by Monty Roberts. In order to successfully achieve Join-Up youth must demonstrate the 6 core values of Lead-Up, those values are: Emotional regulation, trust, empathy, assertiveness, resilience and peaceful leadership. Horses are herd animals seeking security and leadership; they are also inherently cooperative and communicative. When the youth demonstrate peaceful, reliable and assertive leadership through their non-verbal communication, the horse communicates trust and respect via his inherent body language and chooses the youth as their leader. The youth intrinsically discover the power of peaceful leadership through the reward of ‘Joining Up’ with a horse; a result of the correct use of their body language. When the youth learn to manage all levels of their body language and non-verbal communication the horses provide instant feedback, teaching the youth that if they demonstrate peaceful leadership through their body language they can earn their trust. Lead-Up can have a very positive effect on youth with aggressive tendencies who are channeling their often inherent leadership in a negative way. For example, when a youth with aggressive tendencies learns to ease his body position, move fluently, regulate his breath, soften his gaze and, as a result a thousand pound horse chooses and requests to ‘Join-Up’ with him; mirroring the youths demeanor by lowering his head in relaxation and in a demonstration of trust, a powerful message is sent to that youth that he does not need to use violence or aggression to be a strong and assertive leader. For many youth, the sense of relief in discovering that violence is never the answer, and unnecessary, is palpable. The experiential interaction of Join-Up is non-verbal and the learning intrinsic; it is further cemented through reflection with team members in later sessions that focus on what the Join-Up experience meant to the youth and of how they can use the tools they discovered in their daily lives. Join-Up is a powerful and transformative experience and, when used in this context, is an invaluable tool in teaching the power of peaceful leadership and reducing and preventing violence in the community.
