|
About Equine Facilitated Psychotherapy |
|
Equine Assisted Psychotherapy (EAP) is an experiential approach to psychotherapy in which participants work one on one with horses in a variety of activities. The EAP sessions can be individual, family or group sessions. The process includes working with horses in many different ways from basic grooming to completing obstacle courses with the horse as your partner. As participants learn to establish trust, respect, and communicate with their equine partners they gain the skills necessary for building a strong healthy trusting relationships in other areas of their life. This model of therapy provides a focused interactive equine experience in which emotions can be felt and processed as they happen in a safe and fun setting.
Horses have an uncanny ability to sense human emotions and it is natural for a horse to mirror the emotions it receives from its human companion. In this way they provide immediate honest feedback to their human partners. Since most human communication occurs at a nonverbal level, the fact that horses can pick up and mirror communication on this level is very important for getting to the truth of how a person is truly feeling.
Guided by a trained therapist, clients can use their interactions with the horses to assess their emotional state, identify dysfunctional behaviors in themselves or their relationships and recognize their effectiveness in creating appropriate boundaries for themselves. In working with horses, many times, deep seated issues that would remain unnoticed with other therapeutic interventions, are brought to the surface and processed.
Unlike pets such as cats and dogs, the horse is a fight or flight animal. In nature the horse is preyed upon by predators. This characteristic produces an animal that still functions from its primal needs. A horse is not interested in pleasing without a reason, just as a person is not interested in changing without a reason.
Equine Facilitated Psychotherapy is a powerful and effective therapeutic approach that has an incredibly powerful impact on participants. |
|
To contact us: |
|
As a herd animal, the horse must have a leader or it will become a leader. Horses apply this trait to their interactions with humans as well. If the individual working with a horse does not take the leading role, the horse will.
This equine dynamic teaches about boundaries and personal assertiveness in an open and compelling manner. |
