Lorna Saxbee Counselling
& Sydney Equine Assisted Psychotherapy
What is Equine Assisted Psychotherapy & Counselling (EAP)?
EAP is professional counselling and/or psychotherapy co-facilitated with an *accredited mental health practitioner and a therapy horse.
Fundamental to therapeutic healing and growth is the relationship you build with your therapist, your therapy horse and yourself. Humans find their sense of self in relationship, so it is through this time spent in a respectful trusting relationship with their therapy horse and therapist, which supports and inspires a client on a journey of deep personal reflection, discovery and reconnection to their authentic selves.
Horses have an innate drive to seek relationship and congruence from people, offering an emotionally intimate and safe space, naturally free from judgement.
This supportive space is also what a good therapist provides their clients and research shows 75% of positive therapeutic outcomes are due to this relationship. EAP provides a client the opportunity to experience this healing relationship with not only their therapist but also their therapy horse.
It allows you to build relationships that are free from damaging perceptions, patterns, dysfunctional attachment styles and familial burdens. Just like other forms of counselling and psychotherapy EAP is an interactive process to address psychotherapy and counselling goals set forth by the licensed mental health professional in collaboration with the client.
The special difference with EAP is the client also experiences the therapy processes with their therapy horse. A microcosm of the client’s world is mirrored through their relationship with their therapy horse enabling the client to achieve great insight and self-awareness.
Sometimes it is easier for clients to receive this self-awareness from a non-judgemental horse. Self-awareness is key to healing and reconnecting you back to your authentic presence, a space within where you will be empowered to respond to life rather than react. Where you will be able to support yourself, be emotionally available in relationships, and find fulfilment and inspiration to be true to yourself, to ask for your needs and adaptively navigate the cycles of life’s challenges.
It allows you to build relationships that are free from damaging perceptions, patterns, dysfunctional attachment styles and familial burdens. Just like other forms of counselling and psychotherapy EAP is an interactive process to address psychotherapy and counselling goals set forth by the licensed mental health professional in collaboration with the client. The special difference with EAP is the client also experiences the therapy processes with their therapy horse.
EAP is highly effective for adolescents and adults and
is delivered through individual or groups programs. The goal is to help clients to achieve positive therapeutic outcomes for emotional, cognitive, social and behavioural challenges.
Equine Assisted Therapies definitely do require a licensed mental health professional.
***It is important to verify that the individual who is advertising themselves as a an EAP counsellor or psychotherapist has received clinical training in and is licensed by their accrediting body.
In Australia that includes the *Psychotherapy and Counselling Federation of Australia (PACFA) and also the *Australian Counselling Association (ACA).
