Gestalt Equine Psychotherapy
Australia
What is EQUINE ASSISTED PSYCHOTHERAPY (EAP)?
EAP is an approach to professional Counselling, Psychotherapy, and Mental Health that supports clients of all ages in addressing behavioural, emotional, cognitive, relational and spiritual issues, struggles, or mental health conditions – with horses as co-facilitators and teachers in this process. This term was coined by EAGALA * (Equine Assisted Growth & Learning Association), which is a peak body focused on the best interests of clients and best practice for professionals.
EAP is an Experiential approach to Psychotherapy and Mental Health, facilitated by a registered Mental Health Practitioner (such as a Mental Health Social Worker or a Psychologist) or qualified and registered Psychotherapist, a horse professional, and horses – in the service of meeting client needs for psychological and relational growth and integration. The focus of this psychotherapy, as in room-based psychotherapy, is to support and explore therapeutic change and self-actualisation for a broad range of client needs.
The client needs and struggles are as diverse as for those clients seeking room-based psychotherapy and consultation. EAP sessions and process are reportedly effective for, and utilised with, clients exploring personal and spiritual growth, trauma and abuse, depression, anxiety, addictions, attachment disorders, personality disorders/traits, children with a range of needs and disorders, groups, couples, families, organisations and corporate teams.
The psychotherapeutic approach to the EAP work is determined by the psychotherapist or mental health practitioner’s training and education, and the theories on human change and development utilised. So, the work may look very different (as in room based psychotherapy) dependent on the approach and theories of change utilised by the practitioner. For example, a psychotherapist offering EAP from a Cognitive Behavioural theory perspective, will look quite different to a psychotherapist offering EAP from a Mindfulness Psychotherapy and Gestalt Therapy perspective. Additionally, the EAP work can look quite different dependent on the relationships the practitioners have with the horses co-facilitating, the horse professional’s training beliefs, beliefs about horses, horse psychology and the horse-human connection.
So, What EAP is not!
It is not Psychotherapy for horses with emotional issues
It is not Horsemanship – teaching or training horses
It is not horse riding – teaching a client to ride a horse
It is not Hippotherapy – where occupational therapists support clients in physical therapy
It is not RDA (Riding for the Disabled) – where people with physical and intellectual disabilities learn to ride horses and learn horsemanship.
These are all wonderful pursuits with positive outcomes to be experienced, however, it is not Equine Assisted Psychotherapy!
It seems the best way to understand this work, is to experience it.
Gestalt Equine Psychotherapy (GEP) is a particular approach to EAP where the clients explore their experience (inner and relational experience), in relationship with horses. Clients develop both an ‘embodied awareness’ (which is different to ‘insight’ or thinking), and gain ‘reflective capacities’ that foster self and relational understanding of patterned ways of being in the world – emotionally, cognitively, behaviourally and relationally. The contact with the horses, and the ‘processing’ of the experience, stretches clients into new Awareness, Experience and Choice – so that real Response-Ability is possible.
GEP is a wholistic and relational therapy approach that attends to all levels of human experience and functioning– breath and body; feeling and affect; cognitions, thinking and beliefs; actions and behaviours; and spirituality. It is an integrated approach that emphasises both developing Awareness, and, experimenting in Experiencing something different within the therapeutic relationship and session.
EAP requires that there is a team with one person as the ‘mental health specialist’ and the other the ‘equine specialist’. GEP requires that each GEP facilitator is both a competent psychotherapist and a competent horseperson.
Research suggests that the long term benefits of EAP depends on both the active experiencing of new situations and experiences, and, on the quality of the ‘processing’ (reflecting, meaning-making and discussing) of the equine experience, facilitated by qualified and experienced psychotherapy and mental health practitioners. Thus, it is a combination of the evocative and reflecting capacities of the horses, the natural connecting and healing presence of the horses, and, the skills of the experienced psychotherapists or mental health practitioners that together weave the opportunities for growth in experience and reflection.
Other Equine Learning practices in Australia
In Australia we have EAP and GEP practitioners, and a range of other practitioners that have been trained in different Equine Psychotherapy or Learning modalities. Some that the author is aware of include EFP and EFL (Equine Facilitated Psychotherapy/Learning as trained and certified by Linda Kohanov’s Epona program), equine assisted coaching and equine experiential processes trained and certified by international trainers such as Barbara Rector (Adventures in Awareness), Arianna Strozzi (Equine Guided Education), Kathy Pike (Equine facilitated Coaching), and many more. There are newer training pathways emerging all the time by different practitioners. These all offer different services, dependent on the practitioners qualification, experience, and the training approach – and, they all offer something different. Additionally there are equine leadership and group processing experiences that are offered, some of which are facilitated by group psychotherapists, and some of which have other qualifications or experience.
In Conclusion
This is a very exciting and inspiring field. There are many practitioners offering a range of Equine Psychotherapy and Learning opportunities for a range of clients and people. It will continue growing. At the heart of this field are the beautiful horses – and the question that I invite people to take away with them is “what is the horse offering you (telling you) right now about yourself, and yourself in relationship”?The horses capacity to both evoke and heal is demonstrated time and time again. It is how this wonderful process is ‘held’ and facilitated, and who facilitates it, that reveals whether it is truly psychotherapy, or something different.
*EAGALA - The Equine Assisted growth and Learning Association (EAGALA) is dedicated to improving the mental health of individuals, families, and groups around the world by setting the standard of excellence in Equine Assisted Psychotherapy (EAP) and Equine Assisted Learning (EAL), also known as horse therapy, equine therapy or equine psychotherapy.