How it works
Horses excel as co-therapists. Their sensitivity, intelligence and social nature make them uniquely effective in animal-assisted therapy. Horses provide rich metaphors that relate to clients' lives, allowing clients to relate the horse's experiences to their own, and share their feelings and issues in a way that is both dynamic and less threatening than traditional talk therapy.Limitless metaphors emerge, relating to issues of safety and protection, nurturance, boundaries, communication, and relationship dynamics. Clients indirectly but openly disclose their feelings, behaviors, and needs. The horses become a safe place to talk about their feelings and create new coping skills.
Equine facilitated sessions are rich in projective material. The horses are a key part of the treatment team, and as do therapists and facilitators, they bring to the session their own personalities and history. Their quirks and behaviors are interpreted by the client through the lens of their own emotions and behaviors, providing insight into feelings they might not otherwise disclose. In this way, equine therapy rapidly breaks down defense barriers.
Equine assisted psychotherapy dramatically speeds bonding with resistant clients, particularly adolescents. Often kids are reluctant to sit down and do a lot of talking about their feelings. Many kids are unwilling to take part in traditional talk therapy and prove resistant to traditional interventions. Incorporating horses into a session gives the client and the therapist a bonding-point. In our experience, our clients often eagerly look forward to their sessions at the barn. As one of our kids put it, "It's therapy... except it's fun!"
Unlike traditional office sessions, which rely almost entirely on self-report, equine facilitated sessions allow for direct observation of behaviors, emotional responses and patterns, in real-time situations. The experiential nature of EAP allows a therapist and client to practice new behaviors in a dynamic situation with a living creature. Equine therapy is similar to role-play, but with the added benefit of authentic reaction from a living animal who exercises choice. Rather than discuss a new behavior, go out and try it in their lives and report back in the next week's session, clients can try a new behavior with the present support of their therapist and process the results of taking a new action.
Equine Assisted Psychotherapy draws on many paradigms, particularly cognitive, gestalt, person centered, family systems, and transactional analysis. It draws heavily from reality therapy, as well. Its versatility makes it an effective tool for a broad spectrum of theoretical approaches.
Providing therapy with Flying Change:
Flying Change contracts with licensed, insured mental health professionals in providing our psychotherapy services. We also partner with therapists in making equine assisted therapy available to the therapist's own clientele.
Experience with horses is helpful but not required. Rather, what is needed is the ability to understand and observe the bonding between a horse and a client, and relate to the therapeutic metaphors of this approach.
We adhere to the list of psychosocial and behavioral precautions and contraindications developed by EFMHA (1997):
Contraindications:
Client is currently
- Actively dangerous to self or others (suicidal, homicidal, aggressive)
- Actively delirious, demented, dissociative, psychotic, severely confused
- Actively substance abusing, medically unstable (related to psychiatric condition)
Precautions:
Client has
- History of animal abuse
- History of fire setting
- Suspected current or past history of physical, sexual, and/or emotional abuse
- Gross obesity
- Medication side effects
- Stress induced reactive airway disease
- Migraines
Because many clients have experienced one or more of the above precautions, a continual assessment of each client's mental, emotional, and behavioral status is needed to determine their safety and suitability within Flying Change. In the case of our particular program, we have a strong policy against accepting clients with a history of animal abuse or fire setting.
For further information on providing equine assisted psychotherapy with Flying Change, please contact us at (404) 512-0834 or email us atinfo@flyingchange.org