Equine Facilitated Psychotherapy & Trauma
“ As the effects of trauma are often stored in body memories that verbal therapies cannot release, we need therapies that depend on action rather than verbalisation ” Van der Kolk, 2003
Equine Facilitated Psychotherapy offers the optimum environment to reconnect with the real you and to start a highly insightful journey towards healing.
For those who suffer from the nightmares, anxiety, depression, anger, irritability and other debilitating effects of this invisible, yet very real disability; this reflective work with horses opens the gateway to helping heal traumatic events, in a non judgemental or challenging space.
Together with the horses you will experience how it feels to open up and make changes. Almost immediately, your need to use negative survival patterns will fall away, the horses are interested in your honesty and will help hold you as you find your way.
No horsemanship skills are needed for this experience, just a desire to change.
Connecting with horses offers insightful self-exploration. In building your relationship with our horses you have begun working on yourself, exploring how your experiences, beliefs, actions and feelings have impacted on your world. “When we have the courage to embrace ourselves, it works and feels like magic. And yet, it’s the most natural thing in the world.” (Leigh Shambo, HEAL. USA).
Why do horses help healing? You won’t feel judged by the horses, as we so often can do by people. The horses are equals, we quickly trust them. Horses are intriguing, motivating us spontaneously. This therapy doesn’t feel like it’s hard work, there is less talk and more action.
Horses are honest, which makes them especially powerful messengers. Most importantly they can help teach us how to feel and show us our true strengths, helping us to learn to trust once more.
For many, developing a relationship with a horse is the first step in re-developing the confidence needed for positive relationships with friends and loved ones.
“The creative is the place where no one else has been; you have to leave the city of your comfort and go into the wilderness of your intuition. You cannot get there by bus; only by risk and by not quite knowing what you are doing. What you will discover will be wonderful. What you discover will be yourself.” (Carolyn Resnick, “Naked Liberty”).
Please contact us if you think we can help, or you would like further information on our Private Individual programmes, Group programmes and family programmes.