Equine Assisted Psychotherapy
Equine Assisted psychotherapy (EAP) is an innovative form of experiential learning where clients develop new insights and learn new skills via relational experiences with horses.
EAP can assist in personal development, professional development and developing leadership skills in teams and individuals.
What Happens in an EAP Session ?
Clients are offered a safe (both physically and emotionally) experience with horses for the purpose of exploring self-experience in relationship, building self awareness of patterns or habits that are no longer serving clients needs, and for developing social and emotional skills and addressing learning goals clients have identified.
Poppy is one of our Equine Assisted Psychotherapy horses and a big part of our team. Poppy is here to listen and learn from in many different ways.
What does this look like?
Observation of Horses
Meeting with horses at liberty
Lead-line experience including touching, grooming and leading
Liberty leading (leading horses without a lead rope)
Creative activities with horses
Why Horses?
Horses are beautiful, intelligent sensitive and strong beings who can evoke strong feelings in clients and engage clients in the learning process.
Calm and healthy horses can assist in co-regulating a clients nervous system as well as offering non judgemental safety and trust.
Horses can offer unique bio feedback and hold clients in a way traditional learning environments cannot.
The natural environment can also contribute positively to learning outcomes for clients
"Horses can see the real you. Being seen is incredibly healing"
-Meg Kirby founder of the Equine Psychotherapy Institute