A Day in the Life of... Janelle Robinson
Find out why this physical therapist and director of therapeutic services at The Shea Center in San Juan Capistrano spends her day with horses.
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| Ride Along If you'd like to get involved, The Shea Center is always looking for volunteers. 949.240.8441 :: sheacenter.org |
Physical therapy can be taxing for both the therapist and the patient, but physical therapy involving equestrianism? That’s a horse of a different color.
As the director of therapeutic services at The Shea Center for Therapeutic Riding in San Juan Capistrano, Janelle Robinson sees a wide variety of disabilities in both adults and children. To assist in overcoming them, the center incorporates horseback riding into its programs, and although therapy is different for each individual, the smiles are the same – and everybody is wearing one.
Coast spent a day riding along with Robinson.
9 a.m. Robinson rides her bike to the office where she checks in with her staff, which includes a physical therapist, a speech therapist, instructors, interns, volunteers, 17 horses, and more than 30 clients the center can serve in one day.
10 a.m. Robinson meets with Assistant and Registered North American Riding for the Handicapped Association Instructor Heidi Knight to prepare the horses for the day.
11 a.m. The Shea Center gets interns from Chapman University, Cal State Azusa and USC, and Robinson spends time with all of them, giving them constructive feedback or, on this particular day, going over their midterm exams.
11:30 a.m. Robinson meets with Kathy Gehlke, volunteer development manager to go over the volunteers’ schedules. Volunteers are crucial to The Shea Center, and each client requires three of them.
12 p.m. Robinson spends her lunch riding her own horse, Nikolai, who lives on the grounds.
1 p.m. Clients are served in the afternoon. Today the arena is at full capacity, with four therapists working with clients in the arena and three instructors doing therapeutic riding.
3 p.m. Robinson does therapeutic riding with 60-year-old Rosemary, who has multiple sclerosis.
6 p.m. Robinson tidies up the arena and stables for the night and calls her husband to come pick her up. “After a long day, I don’t ride my bike home,” Robinson says.
