Horses can be used for healing. Equine Assisted Psychotherapy is the discipline using horses as a means of providing metaphoric experiences in order to promote emotional healing and growth. EAP is defined as a form of experiential therapy that includes equines as partners in the psychotherapy process. It may include but is not limited to a number of mutually beneficial equine activities such as grooming, handling, lunging and various interactive exercises. Through horse-human interactions, horses can provide mirroring or feedback to the person with them. It’s not about riding or teaching horsemanship skills but rather EAP gives participants an opportunity to work on self-soothing, social skills, or attachment issues to name a few. On the ground therapy incorporates a connection between struggling humans and highly sensitive animals. EAP is a treatment approach that provides opportunities for people to enhance self-awareness, repattern maladaptive thoughts, feelings and behaviors. Just being in the vicinity of horses has been empirically shown to change brain wave patterns.
Dr. Zwick has been around horses most of her life. As both a psychologist of over 40 years and a Certified Equine Specialist in Mental Health and Learning, she brings rich experience and knowledge to how equine behavior affects human responses and how EAP adds a dimension to the psychotherapy process of her patients.
