Equine Assisted Psychotherapy

Learn More About Horse Therapy in San Diego

This is an experiential form of  therapy that includes horses and a specialist psychologist or counselor working together with a client (adult, adolescent, or child) to create positive change. The therapist is specifically trained in Horse Therapy in conjunction with traditional training in the mental health field.

It may include, but is not limited to, a number of beneficial activities such as observing, handling, grooming, groundwork, and structured challenging exercises focused on the adult’s or child’s needs and goals. This form of therapy provides unique non-verbal opportunities for the client to enhance self-awareness, recognize maladaptive behaviors, identify negative feelings, and face self-defeating cognitions.

It may be used for clients with psycho-social difficulties and mental health needs that can result in significant changes in cognition, mood, judgment, insight, perception, social skills, communication, behavior, and learning.

Benefits

In light of research and observational findings, experts suggest that Equine Therapy—a common form of animal-assisted therapy—may yield a variety of psychotherapeutic benefits in the following domains:

• Trust: The first step is to trust the horse, the therapist, and yourself. This is a profound step towards growth in interpersonal relationships and healing. Learning to trust an animal such as a horse is very powerful in the development and restoration of trust for those whose ability to trust has been violated by difficult life experiences.
• Anxiety Reduction: Research on human-animal interaction indicates that contact with animals and horses significantly reduces physiological anxiety levels. Some are initially afraid of horses. With the support of an expert therapist and a trained horse whose genuineness and affection help allay these fears, clients are empowered to embrace therapy to diminish anxiety.
• Depression and Decreasing Isolation: Depression is frequently associated with feeling rejected by peers, feeling different from peers, and feeling left out. Depression is an intrinsically isolating experience. The horse’s unconditional acceptance non-verbally encourages children and adults back into the camaraderie of life to engage in positive social interactions that decrease depression and isolation.
• Mindfulness: Equine Assisted Therapy integrates mindfulness at almost every step as the individual learns to be present, in the moment, calm, centered, focused, and fully engaged. Horses are very sensitive and pick up on others’ emotions quickly, and accurately reflect these feelings in mirroring ways to the client. One can almost experience it as bio-feedback, but it is the dynamic between the individual and the horse that is creating the feedback loop. With mindfulness, the client is able to learn new, positive ways of being, which has a significant impact on cognition, feelings, and behaviors associated depression, anxiety, trauma, obsessions, impulsivity, emotional regulation, and other mental health issues.
• Self-Esteem: Confidence is enhanced as adults and children challenge themselves to learn and master new skills. They improve their ability to tackle new projects and challenges in a natural, non-competitive, and non-judgmental environment, which leads to improved confidence, self-assurance, and self-esteem.
• Impulse Regulation: Individuals who struggle with impulse control and emotional regulation can benefit tremendously from Horse Therapy. The need to communicate with a horse calmly and non-reactively promotes the skills of emotional awareness, emotion regulation, self-control, and impulse modulation. It is effective in reducing a person’s irritability, agitation, and impulsivity, and increases cooperation, emotional regulation, capacity for delay, and behavioral control.
• Self-Efficacy: Experiencing success with challenging exercises and goal focused activities in non-verbal ways fosters initiative, problem-solving, and renewed internal feelings of self-efficacy. Experiences of “I did it!” replace feelings of helplessness and lack of motivation, empowering the child, adolescent, and adult to take on challenges in many areas of coping and healing.
• Positive Identity: As the horse and therapist work in close alliance with the client, a gradual sense of acceptance and feeling ‘liked’ emerges to enhance the client’s positive self-concept and identity. The client bonds with the horse to create a positive and healthy relationship that fosters their own identity and self-definition.
• Communication:  Learning to communicate and achieve harmony with a large animal promotes intuition, stepping outside of one’s comfort zone, and patience. Horses’ sensitivity to non-verbal communication assists children, adolescents, and adults to develop greater awareness of their emotions, the non-verbal cues that they may be communicating, and the critical role of non-verbal communication in relationships.
• Growth With Nature: Through this form of therapy, individuals have a unique opportunity to encounter the outdoors from a new perspective. Feelings of joy and connection are often discovered or revived as we experience nature’s beauty in a renewed way. Especially for children and teenagers, engaging in therapy in a more natural, peaceful, outdoor environment greatly enhances the benefits of therapy.
• Self-Acceptance: Many individuals are initially concerned that they will do something embarrassing while learning about and interacting with the horses. Yet clients quickly learn that every individual has their own experience, and they learn to focus inwardly on their comfort level in their own skin as opposed to making comparisons. Fears of embarrassment in public are thereby often reduced and self-acceptance increased. Clients also learn that progress is a journey, and self-acceptance for every phase of that journey is critical to resilience.
• Social Skills: Equine Assisted Therapy supports people in learning appropriate non-verbal and verbal communication, receiving and understanding positive and negative feedback, reciprocity in relationships, assertiveness, initiative, and engagement. It is very powerful in moving clients who are socially isolated or withdrawn to a more open, positive, and appropriate social platform. A positive relationship with a horse is often the first, safe step toward practicing the social skills needed to initiate closer relationships with people, learn trust, and engage in social reciprocity.
• Assertiveness: Working effectively with a large animal can be intimidating and Horse Therapy provides the foundation for individuals to learn how to be more assertive, clear, and directive. Communicating effectively with a horse and engaging in challenging exercises that include the horse foster the client to demonstrate initiation, assertiveness, and direction; all important skills that enable them to express their needs and feelings more effectively in relationships.
• Boundaries: Many children, adolescents, and adults have experienced prior relationships as controlling, traumatic, conflictual, or untrustworthy. Healing takes place as they discover that the relationship with horses occurs within the context of a healthy, safe, and mutually respectful relationship between themselves and the horse. Clients quickly learn that although physically bigger and more powerful, the horse typically mirrors the child’s emotions and operates within the boundaries of this safe and mutually caring relationship.
• Creativity and Spontaneity: Many individuals with socio-emotional difficulties may be emotionally inhibited, rigid, or despondent, and are likely to have lost some sense of spontaneity. The creativity, spontaneity, and playful aspects of this therapy style can help restore spontaneity, creativity, and ability for healthy recreation and play.
• Perspective and Giving: By developing a caring and nurturing a relationship with a specific horse, the individual develops a positive attachment outside of their home and school. Through grooming activities and caring for the horse, clients are able to learn to give, nurture, connect, and put aside the absorbing focus of their struggles, self-defeating thoughts, negative, sad emotions, and anxious ruminations, and instead direct their attention and thoughts externally toward safe and caring interactions.

Who is Suited to This Type of Therapy?

• Adults
• Adolescents
• Children
• Families

Equine Assisted Therapy can be a powerful and magical way to assist our children, adolescents, and adult family members in multiple social, emotional, physical, cognitive, and behavioral domains. This type of therapy is being recognized as a more integral part of psychotherapy and mental health and can serve as a unique and effective intervention that should be considered as a resource by parents and professionals.

Find a Psychotherapist at Aspiring Families, San Diego

Aspiring Families offers psychotherapy with a licensed clinical psychologist specializing in the EAGALA model, in conjunction with traditional psychotherapy with our team members in the office. Our EAGALA trained licensed clinical psychologist has almost 20 years of mental health experience with adolescents, children and adults, in addition to multiple years of expertise.

The therapy takes place at a ranch about 15 minutes from the main office. Each session is 50-60 minutes long and is typically reimbursable by your PPO insurance.