Welcome to the information page about Equine Assisted Psychotherapy or EAP.  It is a mouthful!  Here you will find a description about the difference between traditional counseling and EAP, and why I sometimes partner with horses in therapy.

EAP is an alternative to traditional talk therapy.  Typically, when you visit a counselor or therapist, you would meet in an office setting and discuss life events, feelings, and relationships that are having an impact on your emotional/mental well-being.  The act of expressing thoughts and feelings can bring clarity and healing in a way that can be very beneficial.  Oftentimes, the process of therapy is also about discussing difficulties and opportunities for growth, and then going home to put these ideas into practice.  It can be an incredibly valuable process.

EAP, however, offers an alternative for those who would like, or need, something different - an experience, rather than a conversation.

In EAP, the client and the therapist meet outdoors.  One or more horses, as well as an Equine Professional are also a part of the session.  The purpose of EAP is to interact with the horses so that familiar feelings, communication, and relationship styles arise as a relationship between human and horse emerge.  While interacting with horses, clients are able to experience and practice new ways of being and communicating - rather than simply talking about it.  When we have a new experience, new connections are made in the brain and body - making it easier to repeat these new behaviors again in the future (think about it like learning to drive - you have to actually drive a car before you can fully understand how, and with practice you become more and more skilled, making the act of driving easier and easier).  A trusting and genuine relationship is encouraged between horse and client, and will offer many opportunities for reflection, insight, and practice of new skills.  Riding is sometimes recommended as a part of the therapy; as it can support the brain in developing neural connections for self-soothing and self-control.  Riding is only included if necessary therapeutically; you will not receive traditional "riding lessons" in EAP. I act as a guide and a support as a client and horse get to know each other, attempt communication, solve problems, and grow together. It is a subtle practice of noticing internal experiences, attuning to another, and practicing ways of being that lead to secure, healthy relating.

Horses offer you moments in which to become aware of your own relational style, practice self-soothing and self-management, and learn how intention and purpose help you create the kind of life and relationships you desire. The patterns that we observe will be the same as what occurs in your daily life, and we will practice intentional ways of being, together.

Why Horses? As prey animals, horses are naturally tuned in to the body language and energy coming from all around them, for their own survival. Throughout evolution horses had to be able to read internal states of others - not what a predator was pretending to be, but who the animal truly was, on the inside.  Horses are also herd animals and seek out connection wherever they go - like humans, they feel most at peace when they are connected to themselves and others. Because of these characteristics, horses provide immediate feedback about how a human makes them feel, not based on arbitrary social constructs, but on a deeper level, be it energetic, soul, body, spirit, or otherwise. And horses will seek out connection with us the moment we become honest, relational, and trustworthy. As their own self-protection, horses seek authenticity, quiet connection, and peace - and they provide rich opportunities for us to do the same.