EQUINE FACILITATED PSYCHOTHERAPY WORKSHOPS

The equine facilitated psychotherapy workshops follow the “Equine Psychotherapeutic Interventions” (EPI) treatment model developed exclusively by Claire. This treatment model focuses on understanding the historical significance of the survival mechanisms that horses use, and how these survival mechanisms operate in present day situations. Not only does the workshop cover the historical significance of the survival mechanisms, but also the physiology of these mechanisms. The student will learn concepts such as traumatic memory , enactment of defense mechanisms, hypervigilance, and physiological resolve of defense mechanisms. The workshop also covers the usage of equine facilitated psychotherapy as a treatment modality for various goals such as containment, modeling, identifying unknown needs, fears, and resentments, and learning to enact healthy defense mechanisms. As important as coupling the correct treatment modality with the intended goal, is using the appropriate horse. To accomplish this, the workshop will cover the psychological profiling of the horse, and selection of the appropriate horse for the therapy work. Lastly, the workshop will cover the appropriate training for the therapist, and will prepare him/her to use equine facilitated psychotherapy effectively as a treatment modality for various conditions.