Gaits of Hope

The  EAGALA Model Session

EAL is NOT Hippotherapy or therapeutic riding. The focus of EAL is not riding or horsemanship. The focus of EAL is providing mental health services. All activities are done on the ground.  Activities are used with the horses to help the client to adapt or use specific skills to gain insight and achieve specific goals. After the session, the client is asked about the activities and behaviors and outcomes. The number of sessions and goals are determined by the outcomes and how the client processes the insights they have learned.

 

The EAGALA model uses best practices/evidence theories of mental health including, but not limited to, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Trauma Focused-Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT), Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), and Solution-Focused Therapy.
EAL addresses a variety of mental health and human development needs including behavioral issues, attention deficit disorder, PTSD, substance abuse, eating disorders, depression, anxiety, relationship problems and communication needs.

The Equine Specialist (ES): The ES is a specialist in equine behavior and body language, and chooses the horses to be used in sessions. The ES works with the MH to structure sessions, maintains an equine log to document horse behaviors in sessions, remains vigilant to the safety and welfare of clients, horses and team, and utilizes an EAGALA-developed observational framework to track the specific and distinctive behaviors of the horses in session.

The Horse: Horses have many characteristics which make them especially effective in experiential settings. The horse’s size, movement, natural awareness and nonverbal communication are specific ways to evoke response, self-adjustment and change in the client. In the EAGALA model, horses and the facilitating team seeks to access the horse’s natural instincts in responding to the human dynamic in session. The horse’s unique sensitivities as a prey animal make it especially responsive to incongruency and discrepancy in its environment, making them accurate indicators to the client’s internal state.

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All clients have private intakes to discuss challenges, set personal goals and session objectives are established.

The EAGALA Model’s focus is 100% on the ground. The focus of EAP is not riding or horsemanship. The focus of EAP/EAL involves setting up activities involving horses and requiring the client or group to adapt and apply certain skills. Effective and deliberate techniques are utilized in creating a dynamic, experiential setting for effective skill building and change

 

 

Individual Sessions - 50 min  $125
Family Sessions - 50 min  $135.00 per person
Groups Sessions - 2 hours  $55.00 per person