Animals as Healing Partners: Designing Meaningful Animal-Assisted Experiences
Thursday, March 5 | 3:00–4:00 pm Eastern Time | Virtual
Missed one of the most talked-about sessions from Care Farming Network’s National Conference—or want to revisit it with fresh ears? Join us for a special Encore Webinar, featuring a replay and facilitated discussion of one of our most popular conference presentations. This virtual gathering offers another chance to learn from care farming leaders, reflect on key insights, and connect with others in the CFN community—no travel required.
Animals as Healing Partners
This encore webinar will feature Jennifer Zeitler of Open Farms (NY), who will share how care farms thoughtfully integrate animals to deepen participant engagement, build skills, and support healing.
Our original conference session also included Suzanne Kapral of The Lands at Hillside Farms. While Suzanne will not be presenting live during the webinar, registrants will receive access to a recording of her conference presentation as part of the post-webinar follow-up.
Presenter
Jennifer Zeitler
Jennifer Zeitler is the founder of Open Farms and owner of Let’s Goat Buffalo, where she integrates targeted grazing, animal-assisted programming, and community-centered care to support both land stewardship and human well-being. At Open Farms, Jennifer and her team harness the power of hands-on farming and the healing connection between people, land, and animals to support individuals of all abilities. They care for rescued animals, cultivate nourishing gardens, and steward the soil—creating a welcoming space where everyone can contribute, belong, and thrive in harmony with nature.
Suzanne Kapral is a TEDxScranton speaker, author, and national leader in care farming who advances trauma-informed, farm-based mental health programs. She fosters partnerships between mental health professionals and farms to develop evidence-based initiatives that support healing through agriculture and animal-assisted experiences. Suzanne helped establish the nationally recognized care farming program at The Lands at Hillside Farms and serves as an advisor and Green Care Advisory Board member for the Massachusetts Department of Public Health.
Suggested donation: $10 — pay what you can.