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What is Equine Assisted Psychotherapy?
Equine Assisted Growth and Learning Association (EAGALA) is a non-profit organization that provides a global standard for providing Equine Assisted Psychotherapy (EAP), Equine Assisted Learning (EAL) and Personal Development.
In the EAGALA model horses are incorporated experientially for mental and behavioral health therapy as well as personal development. It is a collaborative effort between a licensed therapist and an equine professional working with the clients and horses to address individualized treatment goals. EAP is considered a short-term or brief therapy approach because of its swift impact and effectiveness.
EAP is experiential in nature. This means that participants learn about themselves and others by participating in activities with the horses which are powerful and intuitive animals. The interactions between the horses and clients are then processed (or discussed) to gain insight into feelings, thoughts, core beliefs, behaviors and patterns.
The EAGALA Model:
Team Approach - A Mental Health Professional, Equine Professional/Specialist and horses working together with clients in all EAGALA sessions.
Ground Focus - EAGALA sessions are facilitated on the ground only (no riding)
Experiential and Solution Oriented - Clients are provided an environment to experiment, problem solve, take risks and use creativity to find their own solutions that align with their value system.
Code of Ethics - EAGALA has a code of ethics and a standard of professionalism.
The EAGALA Team:
The Horse: Horses have many characteristics which lend them to being effective agents of change, including honesty, awareness, and ability with nonverbal communication. The role of the horses in an EAGALA session is to be themselves.
The Equine Specialist (ES): The ES chooses the horses to be used in sessions, works with the MH to structure sessions, keeps an equine log to document horse behaviors in sessions, stays aware of safety and welfare of clients, horses, and team, and makes observations of horse SPUD’s (an EAGALA-developed observation framework taught in the certification training program) which can bring in potential metaphors.
The Mental Health Professional (MH): The MH is responsible for treatment planning, documentation of clients, and ensuring ethical practice. The MH builds on the ES’s horse observations, bringing in the metaphoric and therapeutic/learning relevance of the session.
My horse story that inspired Equine Assisted Psychotherapy…..
I began loving horses as a very young girl and requested a pony for every birthday party. Around the age of 9, I started taking weekly riding lessons and dreamed of the day that I would have my own horse. My love and admiration for horses only grew stronger as the years went on. It was a dream come true that my daughter expressed a desire to ride horses and cultivated a passion and love for horses as well. The experience of observing her relationship with her horse and their interactions really touched my spirit and I began exploring the field of Equine Assisted Psychotherapy. It was such a amazing journey to discover that I could merge my therapeutic experience and mental health education with my passion for horses. I immediately registered and completed the EAGALA training certification and became certified as an Equine Assisted Psychotherapist in 2014. Horses are natural prey animals and their nervous system responds much like ours with survival responses of fight or flight. By observing the horses interactions and behaviors, we are able to learn and experientially engage our nervous systems to heal.
Over the years, I have connected with amazing colleagues and have had the privilege of working with the most talented Equine Specialists and Natural Horsemanship Professionals in providing Equine Assisted Psychotherapy to both groups and individuals. I am honored to witness miracles and transformation take place in the lives of my clients through the modality of equine assisted psychotherapy. The barn has always been a sanctuary of healing for me throughout the years and I feel truly blessed to share it with others through this work.
