Equine-Facilitated Relational & Somatic Therapy: An Introduction Offered by “Healing with Horses” a business of Collins Psychological Therapy & Consulting, Inc.
Horses are very social animals who have survived because of their relationship with their herd. They have an exquisite capacity to read non-verbal cues and the energy around them. Horses live in the moment and respond to the experience of the moment just as it is.
The process of forming a relationship with your therapy horse will ask of you to practice mindfulness and resiliency skills that support being fully present in the moment. You will become more familiar with resiliency skills such as grounding, orientation, resourcing, moving, and self-compassion and how they help to regulate your nervous system. You will learn to track your embodied sense of presence as well as that of your equine partner.
In the context of nature and entering the world of the horses relational and other themes may naturally emerge for you. Such themes as asking for what you need, expressing interest in what your equine partner needs, gaining and giving consent, expressing boundaries, or feeling safe when forming a new relationship.
Prior to your initial session you will receive an Equine Therapy Initial Questionnaire to reflect on what you would like to explore with equine facilitated work, your history with horses and what attracts you to equine-facilitated work. You will also receive some safety with horses guidelines.
Each equine facilitated therapy session is 90 minutes. The following is generally the focus of Session I.
Session One: Meet, Greet, Sharing Space: Meeting your equine partner and observe the non-verbal language of horses. Becoming acquainted with basic safety principles related to interacting with horses. In this session you will explore how mindful awareness skills can support feeling more present with yourself, the environment and with your equine partner. Practicing tracking your embodied response in response to an introduction to your equine partner. Exploring what you observe in the process of visiting with the horses and what meaning this might have for you.
Goals: You will be asked to identify a goal or something you would like to experience or take away from your equine facilitated therapy session. These sessions are very experiential and a variety of themes and insights may emerge. The last 15-20 minutes of each session will include some time to debrief, talk about the experience and how it might translate to the concerns in your life that bring you to therapy.
Horses are very social animals who have survived because of their relationship with their herd. They have an exquisite capacity to read non-verbal cues and the energy around them. The process of forming a relationship with your equine partner can teach you about your attachment style, what you expect to find in relationships, to understand the importance of boundaries, asking for what you need, expressing interest in what your equine partner needs and in gaining and giving consent. The process of forming a relationship with your therapy horse will also ask of you to practice mindfulness skills that support being fully present in the moment.
You will learn to track your embodied sense of safety as well as that of your equine partner. You will practice the stabilization skills that are fundamental to trauma healing and supporting the regulation of your nervous system. These skills are the building blocks of creating a felt sense of safety within yourself and your relationships.
Request for Outdoor Session
Available on Friday afternoons, as well as the 1st and 4th Sundays of the month, you can make an appointment for a private pay therapy session in nature. You will meet me at a horse race in Imperial Beach, and we will walk in a peaceful, open setting, with horses quietly grazing around us. We'll walk, talk and process whatever needs some healing attention. We will also practice mindful awareness skills with nature, the horses, and walking as our anchors for present-moment awareness.
This session will be a private pay session at $115 per hour. I will require that clients have received their COVID virus vaccination before attending. Masks will be provided to use as needed. Email me at drlindac15@gmail.com if you are interested and would like to schedule an appointment. I anticipate appointments will be available starting in May 2021.