Meet Dr. Karol

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Psychotherapist, dressage rider, trainer, instructor, competitor. The Foundation is the culmination of years of ongoing work and professional development Jane Karol, Psy. D., has enjoyed in each of these unique roles.

Dr. Karol earned her undergraduate degree at Washington University, and her master’s degree at American University. Her doctorate in clinical psychology is from Antioch University.

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She completed pre- and post- doctoral work as a Harvard Fellow at Cambridge Hospital in Cambridge, MA. Her training also included extensive internship experience at a number of recognized institutions in the greater Boston area, including Brandeis University and McLean Hospital, a teaching facility of the Harvard Medical School.

 

Dr. Karol also completed an internship year at the Jimmy Fund Clinic, a renowned treatment and research center at Boston’s Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. There, she worked with children suffering from life-threatening illnesses, and their families.

Her approach to treating children and adolescents was formed, in part, by her work as an intern at the Community Therapeutic Day School in Lexington, MA. This school serves children with emotional and neurological difficulties. The school helps its students learn how to have relationships, how to cope with their environment, how to express themselves and engage with their own families, and how to progress toward healthy development.

Years of ongoing work and professional development have enabled Dr. Karol to provide equine assisted psychotherapy, with compassion and skill, through The Bear Spot Foundation.

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Dr. Karol coaches adult clients and their horses at various stages of development and competitive ability at Bear Spot Farm. She competes throughout New England at dressage’s upper levels. A frequent guest clinician, she is known and well regarded for her compassionate approach to the training of both horse and rider.

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*Dr. Karol is a doctoral level psychotherapist and not a psychologist, and as such she is not licensed by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

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Meet Dr. Plante

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Dr. Plante brings 20 years of clinical experience across multiple settings and with a diverse cohort of clients to her clinical work at the Foundation.  Lindsey bottles up more intelligence, energy, sense of humor, compassion and education than a dozen people put together. She earned a BS in Exercise Physiology and a BA in Psychology from UMass, a Masters in Clinical psychology, and her Psy. D. from William James College (formally Massachusetts School of Professional Psychology - MSPP). Bear Spot has been her home - and the people (and creatures) have been her family, since she met Jane at the age of 14. It is here she began her desire to help people.

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“My starting as a clinician for the foundation has been a sort of homecoming in my eyes, as I basically grew up on the property, under Jane’s wing, around the horses and animals, and, with the support, guidance and nurturance of all of the amazing people there,” said Lindsey.

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Dr. Lindsey, as many of her clients call her, worked as a doctoral level therapist for You Inc. in Worcester for more than 16 years before beginning her work at the Foundation full-time. Lindsey has many years of experience working with youth, adults and families, with a variety of different diagnostic presentations, and in clinical work specializing in complex trauma, eating disorders, transgender mental health, self-injury, anger management, attachment disorders, and highly complex, diagnostic cases.

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Lindsey is not new to horses – she is a lifelong equestrian with a background in hunter jumpers, the quarter horse breed show circuit, eventing - and eventually dressage. Lindsey’s love of horses, being outdoors, and active combined with her vast knowledge of clinical psychology has set her up perfectly to be a skilled Equine Facilitated Psychotherapy clinician.

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“My goal for the Bear Spot Foundation is to deepen our understanding of the therapeutic impact of EFP, and to create opportunities that would allow for us to connect and work with clients of all socioeconomic backgrounds. I would like to fundraise, and raise awareness, in order to make it less cost prohibitive. In addition, my hope is to be involved in research that scientifically measures the healing and therapeutic aspects we witness EFP offer every day.”

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In addition, Lindsey loves the ocean, traveling, eating different types of food, having fabulous shoes and being around a horse, dog, or child - or some combination of all three, as much as possible. No question, Lindsey makes the world a better place.

 

*Dr. Plante is a doctoral level psychotherapist not a psychologist, and as such she is not licensed by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.