the  EASEL® methodology

What is EASEL®?

EASEL® can be seen as LEAN of relationships and well-being. Just as the real LEAN focuses on removing blocks, creating value, and improving efficiency by refining work processes, professional behaviours, and ways of thinking, EASEL® applies the same principles to enhancing healthy relationships through social and emotional skills, better communication and psychological safety.

We want to work together with our clients to build safe communities, workplaces, families, and relationshipswith our clients to build safe communities, workplaces, families, and relationships where everyone can do their best, grow, learn, stumble, succeed, thrive, and stay well, even in the midst of challenges. True connection, sense of belonging, and intimacy require that another person’s needs are as important to me as my own. True connection begins with mutual respect and goodwill.

The English word “respect” comes from the Latin word meaning to look back. That is why EASEL’s bull has two faces at its heart—one looking forward, two looking at each other.

EASEL’s theoretical foundation is integrative and interdisciplinary.

Our approach is grounded in both solid theory and hands-on experience, weaving together core elements of evidence-based guidance, education, coaching, adventure pedagogy, experiential learning, and therapeutic approaches. These are further supported by findings from social neuroscience and related fields.

EASEL® was created in actual work and constantly evaluated against evidence-based methods

What is special about EASEL® is that it was born in actual work out of a concrete need, and its scientific basis was built integratively and interdisciplinarily. In the late 1990s, I taugth a class for “challenging” teens in middle school. The students had learning difficulties, some had ADD/ADHD, but most of all, they needed support in strengthening their social, emotional and learning skills. It became essential to find ways to strengthen their self-awareness, self-regulation, social awareness, empathy, and social skills – and, through that, to hopefully build their capacity to guide themselves in making responsible and thoughtful choices and the kind of life they deep down wanted.

One inspiration for EASEL is CASEL (www.casel.org). I had just had my 4th research paper accepted for publication and had my second child when Daniel Goleman et al. founded CASEL. It was a time in my life where I had to decide whether I wanted to be "Dr. Louhi" in biochemistry of health in the future or listen to my feelings and focus on my family and the intriguing new field of EQ  and social neuroscience. EQ won me over. Since the biochemist's mindset seeks to understand why something works or occurs, emotional intelligence and advances in social neuroscience have become central to EASEL’s scientific foundation.

The principles of EASEL’s facilitation

EASEL facilitation is always tailored to the client's needs. In the words of the late professor Vance Peavy, “You have to go where the client is and start from there.”

EASEL Faciliators are sherpas. The Sherpa metaphor originates from one Friday in 1998, when my students wrote in the class journal:

“Mari is like a Sherpa (mountain guides in the Himalayas). The client tells the Sherpa which mountain they want to climb (though the Sherpa might try to talk some sense into them if they pick a really foolish one). The Sherpa knows the best routes and what needs to be brought along. They can also read the weather conditions. The Sherpa walks alongside the client at their pace and carries some of their “stuff”. Sometimes, the Sherpa provides extra oxygen and keeps the client safe in other ways, too. The Sherpa doesn’t complain unnecessarily, and many of them have climbed Mount Everest several times but don’t make a big deal about it.”

Another key principle in EASEL® is that adventure and experiential social-emotional learning are woven into everything. I often describe EASEL by saying that I can teach the same math as the teacher next door, but the way I guide the process, shape the atmosphere, and simultaneously teach social and emotional skills is what sets EASEL® apart. It is, therefore, also only natural that over time, my own professional development and experience with various client groups and contexts have continued to expand EASEL®. But so have the insights of more than 200 trained EASEL Facilitators in Finland and abroad, and the tens of thousands of other professionals and clients we have introduced to the core principles.  

Adventure pedagogy and experiential learning, along with Montessori’s core principle “Help me to do it myself,” are reflected in EASEL’s goal to give clients back the power to shape their own lives and well-being. Richard Lazarus’ book  Passion and Reason, published in 1996, deeply influenced EASEL. At the base of the hierarchical structure of social-emotional skills, we place what Lazarus beautifully articulated: aesthetic experiences form a path to happiness, gratitude and compassion. We have all seen in this work a beautiful scenery, art, experiences of connection between a client and a horse etc.,  transform a client’s attitude towards self and others profoundly.

In EASEL®, we practise making friends also with animals

When working with young people struggling with behaviour, focus, and emotional regulation, one must set boundaries with care and firmness. The relationship must be strong enough to withstand mutual boundary-setting. It must be grounded in genuine care, mutual respect, and goodwill.

Animal-assisted activities in EASEL® are based on the same relationship-building process as between humans. Working with horses felt natural to me, as I had sought connection with all kinds of animals since childhood. I had also learned from my childhood riding instructor in Finland and my mentor during my riding instructor studies in England to take, in the words of philosopher Martin Buber, the I-Thou relationship (as opposed to I-It) as a given—both between people and between humans and horses. In England, my teacher often spoke about how working with horses teaches people about themselves and requires personal growth.

Interactions with social herd animals, who have been raised in safe relationships and trained for client work, are deeply moving experiences. They reveal the core principles of good interaction in their purest form—free from the layers of complexity that characterise human social structures. EASEL horses, sheep, and dogs are similar enough to humans to allow for meaningful interactions. Yet, their clear, straightforward communication and their inherent difference from us make them feel socially non-threatening. If a horse walks away, it does not feel as uncomfortable as a classmate turning their back.

In EASEL Facilitator training programs, participants engage in specific exercises with our animal co-facilitators regardless of their prior experience or skills. It is perfectly fine to feel afraid as EASEL® is about attuning to oneself and others, and ensuring that both parties feel at ease. In EASEL’s relationship-building process, the first step is mutual respect and goodwill. Only on this foundation can a shared language and a sufficient sense of safety develop, enabling deeper learning and growth. This applies just as much to interactions with social animals.

History of EASEL Facilitator training programs

According to feedback from over 200 professionals who have participated in the year-long EASEL Facilitator training program, it provides both theoretical and practical competencies for applying the EASEL® method in their work. But EASEL was not developed for training others. Workshops and lectures at universities, conferences, and professional associations began in 2005 at the request of interested people after I returned to Finland from Beijing with EponaQuest Instructor training and was contributing to the ethical guidelines for equine-assisted psychotherapy in the U.S.. The first EASEL Facilitators received their certificates in 2007, and since then, full Facilitator training programs have been run in Finland, Sweden, and Belgium.

In addition to the 200+ EASEL Facilitators, more than 30 EASEL Coaches have completed our two-year training program, and there are ten EASEL Trainers who have co-facilitated at least one Facilitator training program.

In addition to feedback, a pilot study conducted under the supervision of the University of Jyväskylä’s Department of Psychology measured participants’ EQ and mindfulness skills before and after the year in five training groups. The results showed statistically significant improvements in mindful awareness (MAAS) and emotional intelligence (SREI, Schutte et al.) In fact, participants’ scores exceeded the average scores of psychotherapists tested during the development of SREI. However, the results of psychological self-assessment forms should only be considered as indicative. (The results were not published because the research grant for further studies fell just one point short of approval, and other work commitments took priority. )

EASEL currently has three core objectives:

1. The first is to provide professionals with tools and guiding principles, enabling them to support the emotional skill development of those they work with as part of their core professional tasks. In other words, EASEL® offers the facilitation principles, knowledge base, and practical tools for integrating social emotional learning into counselling, coaching, early education, teaching, rehabilitation, different forms of therapy, youth work, and many more. As EASEL’s experiential social emotional learning is based on the idea that everyday situations naturally provide opportunities for experiential strengthening of social emotional skills, it may be embedded into practically anything. skills, ensuring their well-being and helping them model the behaviours

2. The second objective is to strengthen professionals’ own social and emotional, ensuring their wellbeing and helping them model the behaviours they wish to foster. Emotional skills cannot be taught. Instead, they are learned in interaction with others. Professions based on relational work require exceptionally strong emotional and interpersonal skills. Research suggests that these skills are what distinguish outstanding professionals from average ones. For example, in education, studies indicate that the classroom climate created by the teacher impacts learning more than methods or materials used.

3. The third objective is to help clients create healthier, more resilient workplace communities. We believe this is not only more effective but also more ethical than waiting until well-being and productivity issues have escalated to the point where interventions, sick leave, or therapy are required. Prevention has a direct impact on both the quality of work and the bottom line – as does neglecting these issues.

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