In August, ECC had the pleasure of presenting on Equine Assisted Counseling in the treatment of trauma and PTSD at Millwood Hospital in Arlington as part of their Continuing Education series. We believe that knowledge is an important part of healing whether you are a counselor or a client. We hope that providing you with an overview of the information from our presentation will help increase your understanding of trauma, PTSD, and how equine assisted counseling can help with the healing process.

What is trauma?

Trauma can be defined in a few different ways and is not experienced just by military veterans. The dictionary defines it as “a deeply distressing or disturbing experience.” Other experts describe it as an “emotional response to a terrible event.” The DSM-5, the manual that describes different mental health diagnoses, says that trauma is directly experiencing, witnessing first-hand, repeated exposure to, or learning that a friend or family member has experienced “actual or threatened death, serious injury, or sexual violence.” A few examples of potentially traumatic experiences include sexual assault, childhood abuse, natural disasters, invasive medical treatments, and military combat experiences. This is by no means an exhaustive list.

Not everyone who experiences a traumatic event will experience long-term psychological effects, and no two people will react to the same event in the same way. However, there are some common reactions to trauma that many people experience. These include:

• Trouble concentrating or making decisions
• Feeling jumpy
• Disturbing dreams, intrusive memories or “flashbacks” of the event
• Feeling helpless or fearful
• Feeling numb
• Feeling irritable or having angry outbursts
  
  

Again, this is by no means all of the ways someone might react to trauma and someone with trauma may not experience all of these.

What is Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)?

PTSD is a mental health diagnosis described in the DSM. In order to receive the diagnosis, a client must have experienced symptoms for more than one month after the traumatic experience. It is characterized by four symptom clusters: intrusion (such as recurrent distressing memories, dreams, or flashbacks), avoidance (trying to stay away from things that remind the person of the trauma), negative alterations in mood and thoughts (such as negative beliefs about oneself, blaming oneself for the event, or being unable to feel happiness or love), and alterations in arousal and reactivity (feeling constantly on-guard, jumpy, or reckless).

Common Therapies for PTSD

Some of the most common treatments for PTSD are cognitive processing therapy (CPT), Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), exposure therapy, and medication. Despite the success of these methods, many people may feel that they do not help as much as they hoped. Other people may feel uncomfortable or suspicious about going to these therapies. Fortunately, there are many alternative therapies that are now being offered to help clients with PTSD. Equine assisted counseling is one of these non-traditional methods that has had great success.

Why do we work with horses to treat PTSD?

You can read more about why equine assisted counseling is helpful on this page. For trauma and PTSD, there are a few unique benefits to partnering with horses. Many trauma survivors can relate to the “fight or flight” mentality that horses have as prey animals. However, once a threat is removed, horses return to a calm state very quickly, something that clients with PTSD often have difficulty with. Working with such a large animal can help clients, particularly victims of abuse and assault, feel empowered. Research also suggests that being around animals such as horses decreased production of stress hormones and increased production of wellness hormones. This can help clients who feel ready to process trauma by helping them feel more comfortable while talking about upsetting experiences or to calm down more quickly if they are triggered.

Some of the other benefits that clients with trauma report include:

• Feeling of peace and relaxation
• Decreases in anger
• Formation of a trusting relationship with horse and others
• Increased desire to connect with others
• Decreased feelings of depression and anxiety
• Increased ability to self-regulate and learning to relax
• Identification of the horse as a model to manage symptoms
  
  

Recovering from trauma is not a quick or easy process. We understand that reaching out can be difficult and hope that we can be a safe place for healing. Equine assisted counseling offers many benefits that clients may not always experience in traditional counseling or that will enhance other trauma therapies. If you are interested in learning more about how equine assisted counseling might help you or someone you know, please do not hesitate to contact us.

It can be intimidating to attend your first (or even fifth or tenth) counseling session. Therapy is a mysterious process and clients may not know what to expect from the counselor, the horses, or the process in general. This series will explain more about the counseling process at Equine Connection Counseling. Keep in mind that everyone’s experience in counseling is different and these are just a few common elements that most of our clients will come across in their sessions.

In Part 1 we are discussing what happens as clients begin counseling at ECC:

Paperwork. The most boring part of the counseling process is filling out paperwork! Many counseling practices these days make their intake packet available by downloading from their website or e-mailing you an electronic copy. Others ask that you arrive early for your first appointment to complete various forms. At Equine Connection Counseling, the counselor provides the client with a password to download the forms from our website. It may be a hassle to complete them, but it is important for the counselor to know certain information about their new client and for the client to know about their rights in the counseling process. The counselor will discuss some of the forms with the client and may have additional consent documents for them to sign.

Meeting the horses. Once the paperwork is out of the way, it’s time for the best part: going out into the pasture to meet the horses! Older children, teens, and adults will work with our full-sized horses in large pastures. We encourage clients to meet and interact with as many of the horses as they would like. Younger children will usually be in play therapy with our two miniature horses. Some people feel comfortable enough to pet the horses right away; others prefer to get the lay of the land and take some time to approach the horses. We know that everyone works at their own pace and will follow the client’s lead.

Building a relationship. We believe that the relationship between a client, the horse, and the counselor is the foundation for growth and healing. After they have met all of the horses they wish to, we will ask the client to choose one horse that they will work with in all of their sessions. There are many different ways to interact with the horse and we will let the client choose what feels most comfortable. As the client gets to know the horse, they will also be getting to know the counselor and equine specialist and they will be getting to know the client. However, we don’t like to pressure clients to talk. Studies suggest that just being around the horse can help people feel happier and more relaxed. We might make observations about what the client and horse are doing, but we let people talk as much or as little as they want to. Some people choose to talk the entire session and others talk much less. Having a relationship with the horse can be helpful for people who don’t feel comfortable talking to their human therapist about their challenges; many clients enjoy sharing about their day or their struggles with their horse before they talk to their counselor about it.

Setting goals. Within the first few sessions, the counselor will ask about the client’s goals for therapy. These are the things the client hopes will change as a result of coming to counseling (for example, feeling less anxious). After identifying those goals, the counselor will help identify things the client can do with the horse in counseling that will help the client achieve their goals. Having goals can help clients be committed to themselves and the healing process; they also give the client an idea of how they’ll know that they have been making changes through counseling.

Remember that counseling is a participation activity: you get out of therapy what you put into it! We encourage you to contact us or comment below with any questions you have about the counseling process.

We are excited to be hosting an Open House for the DFW community to learn more about our program and about equine assisted counseling.

The event will be held on Sunday, July 13th from 2:00pm-8:00pm. Activities will include tours of the therapy areas, an opportunity to meet and interact with the therapy horses, and an equine assisted counseling demonstration (4:00-5:30pm).

Attendees are invited to participate in the demonstration to experience the power of the human-horse relationship.

Refreshments will be provided. We recommend dressing for the weather and wearing close-toed shoes.

Parking space is limited so please RSVP via phone (682-334-3784) or email (hallie@equineconnectioncounseling.com) by July 6th.

For more information, see the flyer below.

We are currently seeking participants for a research study to determine the effectiveness of equine assisted counseling in treating veterans with war zone-related posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). 

All counseling services will be provided free of charge and participants will be eligible to receive payment dependent upon length of participation. 

Please check out the flyer below for more details.

For more information or to inquire about participation, please call us at 682-334-3784 or fill out the contact form below.