Alita H. Buzel - Beyond Words: The Healing Power of Horses: Bridging the Worlds of Equine Assisted Therapy and Psychotherapy

BEYOND
WORDS:
The Healing Power of Horses

Bridging the Worlds of Equine Assisted
Therapy and Psychotherapy

ALITA H. BUZEL, PH.D.

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2016 Alita H. Buzel. All rights reserved.

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Published by AuthorHouse 05/26/2016

ISBN: 978-1-5246-0030-3 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5246-0029-7 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2016905217

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Contents

PART I
THE BASIS OF EQUINE
PSYCHOTHERAPY FROM A
PSYCHOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE

PART II
TARGET POPULATIONS AND THE
BUSINESS OF EQUINE THERAPY

PART III
BEYOND WORDS: A PHOTO ESSAY

EXERCISES

Appendices

What is Equine Experiential Psychotherapy (EEP)?

Equine Experiential Psychotherapy is a form of therapy utilizing a team approach composed of a licensed psychotherapist, a credentialed equine specialist, and a therapy horse(s), who work together to elicit growth and healing in their client.

Beyond Words The Healing Power of Horses describes the various aspects of EEP from a psychotherapeutic perspective, including hands-on exercises embedded in psychological theory, clinical descriptions of client populations, and technical issues dealing with incorporating psychotherapeutic practices in equine-oriented settings.

Why Now?

The world of psychotherapy has grown exponentially in the thirty plus years I have been in practice. In particular, the recognition of the importance of the mind/body connection in emotional healing, the breakthroughs in understanding brain processing, such as the discovery of neuroplasticity, the willingness to go beyond traditional approaches, as in the growing use of EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization Therapy) for the treatment of trauma, all signify a new willingness to stretch beyond the historical constraints of verbal communication.

We have come to appreciate that so much of our personal history and soul-forming experiences as children reside in the bodys memory, recorded at a time when we had not the words to either understand or record the narrative of our sorrow. It follows that healing from these pre-verbal wounds needs to be addressed via non-verbal interventions.

In addition, the psychic damage resulting from traumatic experiences is embedded not only in our bodies, but is reflected in the hypersensitive, subcortical area of the brain, the limbic system. This primitive area, which is responsible for the basic survival of a species, is triggered by primal emotions such as fear. You see a bear at the entrance to your cave, and you run! Or stand and fight if you are trapped. Limbic responses bypass the mediating effects of words and logical reasoning. By the time you figure out, Hey, this bear looks hungry you would be eaten. It follows that healing trauma wounds, such as PTSD, requires non-verbal, powerful corrective experiences.

In instances of both pre-verbal damage and emotional trauma, we have discovered that working with horses has proven to be a particularly effective healing method. Perhaps we should humble ourselves and say re-discovered, since the power of horses to heal our spirit and soma has been known from time immemorial. We are just catching up to old wisdom!

Who Is This Book For?

Beyond Words has been written for anyone who finds themselves curious about this new breakthrough therapy.

For the Horse Specialists: A growing number of horse people know, from having worked and lived around horses, the power of these animals to connect, heal, and develop trusting and intimate relationships, both within their own herd and with their humans.

Already horses have become wonderful healing partners with people with physical disabilities and emotional developmental issues such as autism, cerebral palsy (CP), and Downs syndrome. Wouldnt it be logical to extend a horses innate healing ability to people dealing with emotional issues? These possibilities are explored in easy to follow prose with a minimum of psychological jargon.

Lets say you are an equine specialist who has completed your certification and are ready to start your EEP program. Once you begin working with people with emotional issues, you have entered a very complex and confusing world. Even if you are paired with a psychotherapist, who has the responsibility for understanding and treating psychological issues, it behooves you to have some grounding and basic knowledge of therapeutic concepts and terms. It is also the responsibility of the treating facility to ensure that all legal and ethical requirements associated with psychotherapy, are met. If this is sounding a bit intimidating, it should. You take on a great responsibility when you deal with someone who is emotionally fragile. Beyond Words can help you navigate this new world.

For the Psychotherapists: If you find yourself drawn to this new animal assisted therapy, congratulations! Reading Beyond Words will help you begin to enter the world of horses and learn when and how these intuitive animals can be integrated into your treatment process. The book also covers the team approach utilized in EEP, so each member appreciates the contribution the others make. Having a horse as part of a therapeutic team might be a bit of a challenge, but I invite you to just be curious and open to all possibilities. Learning more about the roles of horses and equine specialists will assist you in determining if this is a form of therapy that might intrigue you.

For the General Reader : If you are reading this Foreward, you already have shown an openness and willingness to explore the power of nonverbal, relationship-based psychotherapy. Perhaps you are looking to try a new form of therapy or are simply curious as to how this equine thing works. I have found that simply reading about these innovations can begin to create openings and changes in how we process ourselves and our worlds.

It is my hope that Beyond Words can help all readersequine specialists, psychotherapists, and interested parties alikedevelop the kind of teamwork that will bring new, long-lasting healing to our clients. I have met many talented and dedicated horse people during my various EEP experiences and trainings, but I have not found enough highly trained, licensed clinicians to balance the formula . Nor have I found enough emphasis being put on the importance of understanding the complexity of dealing with emotionally fragile human souls. The caring dedication I have encountered in the equine specialists has been heart-warming, but does not compensate for the missing wisdom that comes from clinical experience.

My goal in writing Beyond Words is to help bridge the worlds of psychotherapists and horse specialists so that each profession has a greater understanding and appreciation of what the other can contribute. And lets not forget the major role of the horse!

Who Am I To Write This?

Lets start with what I am not. Unlike the brilliant people whom I have met during my trainings and along the way, I am definitely not a horse expert. You can ask any horse I have ridden or trained with, and they would agree! I am open, curious, respectful, and a fast learner, but I would never pretend to be anything but a perpetual beginner in the horse world.