A Different Approach to Healing.
Equine Assisted Counselling (EAC) / Equine Assisted Psychotherapy (EAP) is a collaborative effort with any mental health professional, horse professional, client, and equine. It is a powerful and effective therapeutic approach that uses horses to engage the client through an experiential form of client-directed therapy in a non-conventional, non-clinical setting, aiding in treatment goals.
EAC/EAP addresses a variety of mental health and human development needs, including:
Behavioural issues
ADHD
PTSD
Anxiety
Depression
Substance Abuse
Eating Disorders
Family Functioning
Group Strengthening
It includes a sequence of interactive horse activities (experiences) for the purpose of goal setting, awareness, trust, problem-solving, and processing.
This process assists participants in developing personal insights and skills that transfer into everyday life. With experiential therapy such as EAP and EAC, it is the process and how the participant handles the experience that is most valuable. These experiences serve as metaphors to life and linking arena work to life issues is essential.
But Why Horses?
Working with horses allows the individual an opportunity for increased self-confidence, problem-solving skills, self-regulation, self-awareness, and goal setting.
As a prey animal the horse instinctively reacts to our body language first, this gives the client an opportunity for immediate bio-feedback during each session. Allowing for an experiential, client-directed opportunity for individuals or groups to gain personal insights with an immediacy that is not available in the traditional setting. We are therefore able to give our clients an opportunity to gain a unique
understanding of their own actions.
Horses have roles within their herd (group) that are often fluctuating, this creates a unique social setting where clients are able to interact
with the equine as though with peers. This instigates an immediate bio-feedback and behavioural learning situation, where clients can gain a better understanding of their actions in a non-threatening and empathetic social situation. This encourages individuals (and groups) to work through a variety of problems/difficulties at their own pace with
the experiential learning approach being supported by the EAP Team.