Come try a different type of mental health therapy… with horses, outside & in metro Atlanta!
Come experience individual sessions with the horses…
Individual sessions are a now offered at two locations including Chastain Horse Park and Zorro’s Crossing. Individual equine assisted psychotherapy sessions can serve as stand-alone therapy for adults or supplemental therapy for adults or adolescents.
Individual sessions are 50-minutes, 75-minutes or 90-minutes and are led by a Licensed Mental Health Therapist and an Equine Specialist. Each Licensed Mental Health Therapist holds a specialized certification in conducting equine assisted psychotherapy. Equine Specialists have knowledge about horse behavior and horse herd dynamics. Sessions are outdoors in either a horse arena, horse paddocks or pasture space and all therapeutic work is done on the ground. There is no horseback riding and thus no horse experience is needed to participate!
The horses are selected for mental health therapy sessions. You might work with mares, geldings, quarter horses, retired thoroughbred racehorses, retired show and performance horses, rescue horses, paints and warmbloods. A horse-human bond often forms when working week to week with specific horses creating a secure attachment that can be healing.
“The horses and their interactions, both with the human client and with each other, become a symbolic reflection of what is happening in a client’s life.”
~ Fundamentals of The Eagala Model, 9th edition training manual
Equine assisted psychotherapy is based in “the doing” rather than in the talking.
This type of animal-assisted, experiential approach to therapy is based in “the doing” rather than in the talking of traditional office therapy. The human-horse connection is also an important part of the therapy, creating emotion in the here and now. The outdoor setting provides a ripe environment to uncover new awareness about things like relational patterns. The therapeutic work tends to dive deeper and quicker with new insights uncovered after just a few sessions.
Current equine assisted psychotherapy individual sessions are open to adults (18+) and adolescents (6th – 12th grade).We affirm the inherent value and dignity of all persons; we are purposefully inclusive across race, ethnicity, gender, identity, religion, spirituality, and sexual orientation. Mental health treatment plans are customized for each client in therapy.
Adults may enter equine assisted psychotherapy as stand-alone therapy or supplemental therapy. Adolescents must currently be seeing a primary therapist to be eligible for equine assisted psychotherapy. Cost for adult and adolescent individual equine assisted psychotherapy is $285/ 50-minute session.
Please contact us for more information.
