There are many reasons why people seek therapy, including:

• • To move beyond a traumatic experience
• • To find support around loss of a loved one, job, or relationship.
• • To overcome addictive behaviors.
• • To express and process unresolved conflict
• • To confront difficult emotions such as anger, jealousy, or sadness.
• • To gain a deeper understanding of the self in relationship or in the world.

We specialize in:

Contact With Horses, LLC offers a unique opportunity for people to experience change in their lives through contact with horses. In Equine-Assisted Learning (EAL) the goal is to learn about self through horsemanship and riding. In Equine-Assisted Psychotherapy (EAP) the goal is to help the individual to create change through working with horses. We will help you to develop your goals so that you can make the change you desire.

Why Contact with Horses?

• • Horses are intuitive and sensitive.
• • They respond to the energy of human emotion, which allows us to take a closer look at what is going on beneath the surface.
• • Horses deepen the therapeutic process because of their ability to live in the here and now.
• • Horses live in herds, which mimic human social systems. There is a hierarchy and there are roles within each herd.
• • Horses are relational. They have boundaries, build trust, express themselves and make connections with others.
• • We can learn about our own patterns in relationship through contact with horses.

Benefits of Working with Horses:

• • Resolve issues by becoming aware
• • Gain clarity
• • Form connection and make contact
• • Increase confidence and self- esteem
• • Gain physical strength and coordination
• • Increase body awareness, and balance through movement
• • Improve communication skills

Gestalt therapy is based in expression and relationship. By being aware of your own experience, while being in relationship to others (such as a therapist or horse), individuals can explore how they relate in their lives. When we are in the present moment, aware of our experience, often our own patterns and behaviors will arise in session. Change can then occur in session and be integrated into life outside of the therapy session. The goal of change is achieved through:

• • Increasing awareness of the present moment
• • Experiencing feelings and expressing emotions
• • Exploring patterns in relationship while in relationship
• • Integrating new patterns of behavior and ways of relating that can be applied outside of therapy

Experimenting with new ways of living life, clients will be able to live more fully and effectively, centered in themselves, yet able to open and be affected by the world around them.

Wilderness therapy incorporates nature into the therapeutic process. In a technologically advanced society, people are spending less time in nature. Becoming more in touch with nature, including animals, clients feel a sense of connection with themselves and their surroundings. Some advantages to connecting with nature include:

• • Greater sense of well- being
• • Increased creativity and sense of adventure
• • Connection to something larger than self
• • Decreased stress
• • Increased physical health

Somatic therapy combines “talk” therapy with bodywork, such as touch, posture, or exercises to increase body awareness such as stretching or breathing. Also known as mind-body therapy, somatic therapy helps people “become deeply aware of their bodily sensations as well as their emotions, images and behavior. Clients become more conscious of how they breathe, move, speak, and where they experience feelings in their bodies.” (United States Association for Body Psychotherapy. As the client becomes aware of their body and where sensations and emotions are being held, they are able to work through patterns or places where they are stuck emotionally in not just their mind, but body as well.