PATH INTERNATIONAL

Michael Kaufmann is the Farm & Wildlife Director at the PATH Intl. Premier Accredited Center Green Chimneys Farm in Brewster, NY, and the Director of The Sam and Myra Ross Institute. He has been a PATH Intl. member since 1989, is a certified instructor and has published and lectured internationally on animal-assisted activities/therapy and animal welfare.

Michael has been actively involved in human and animal interaction programs, animal welfare and in humane education for more than 25 years. In 2005 he joined Green Chimneys Children’s Services as Farm and Wildlife Director and in 2012 was named Director of the Sam and Myra Ross Institute at Green Chimneys, a program dedicated to education and research on the human connection to animals and the natural world. At Green Chimneys Farm, he directs all aspects of the nature based therapeutic/educational programs and supervises the Institute dedicated to education and research on the human connection to animals and the natural world.

Michael worked on instructor certification and criteria, creating the professional standards for our industry. He took Strides Magazine to the award-winning publication it is today. With the PATH Intl. Board and Staff he gathered professionals for the Terminology Summit, building the language for our burgeoning field, and he helped guide and shape equine-facilitated psychotherapy, one of the fastest growing parts of our industry, through the Equine Facilitated Mental Health Association of which he was a founding board member.

Michael was named the PATH Intl. James Brady Professional Achievement Award recipient in 2016.