Equine Assisted Psychotherapy as a mindful trauma-informed therapy

Horses as prey animals have physiologically acquired many survival techniques. Evolving into an incredibly sensitive and attuned species.

A horse can hear a human heartbeat from four feet away. They can synchronize to our heartbeats, detecting even the slightest changes in our moods and affects.

The horse can “read a room” much like a trauma survivor can and does. Even when they are at their most peaceful, grazing in an open field, they are always experiencing a certain level of hypervigilance that works to keep themselves and their herd out of harms way. Some of the most incredible work I have ever witnessed has been done with survivors of trauma and horses—in their natural element.

Utilizing a trauma informed practice will hold key elements such as empowerment, trust, compassion, consent, safety, voice, and choice.

A client’s work with their equine partner should always foster these things. When a client and equine partner work together, the client while handling and working with the horse has safety and voice in what happens during the interaction.

There is very little you can hide from your equine partner. They sense subtle changes in your heart rate and moods unlike any other human ever could.

It has been my experience that navigating these interactions between client and equine partner during session can help prepare a client for success within human interactions in their greater world.

Sometimes, trauma is presented as an effect of a disrupted attachment, resulting in dysregulation, fear of rejection, and feelings of inadequacy.

The development of object constancy can in turn provide building blocks to secure and unconditional attachment.

“According to psychological research, object constancy is the ability to believe that a relationship is stable, hopeful, and intact, despite the presence of setbacks, conflict, or disagreements. People who lack this might experience extreme anxiety in relationships of all types-not just romantic ones or family ones-and may live in constant fear of abandonment.”

Our horses can teach us boundaries while showing us unconditionality in a relationship.

We may look forward to working with a specific horse all week, but when we arrive, the horse is showing us they are in need of rest and space. We then can use flexibility to find another equine partner, and have a different but still special experience. Our equine partners can show up with different moods, showing us that being our authentic selves and asking and TELLING what we need in any given moment, is something we deserve to have the courage to do.

It is only then when we can pivot love languages, attachment styles, and safely yet clearly, set boundaries within our treatment with equines.

Most recently, a client and this client’s equine partner experienced the need for clear boundaries, while still navigating the intense and incredible attachment they share.

This client beautifully asked their equine partner to show their love language of physical affection in a way that was not so pushy.

“I cannot let you nudge me so hard with your head, that is not safe. I need you to show me you love me in another way. I will always love you so much! I just cannot let you nudge me that hard!”

The beauty in this boundary, this unconditionality, and the strength and safety within this relationship has been able to lend to clear and healthy relational behavioral patterns modeled and learned.

Our equine partners have so much to give, as do we, and so many lessons to teach us.

I continue to feel the most grateful to be in this work, and the most honored to play a part in the magic that entails.

Gabrielle Johansen, LICSW, ESMHL

Equine Assisted psychotherapy & attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder tendencies

For those who live with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) tendencies and for their loved ones who are affected by the related symptoms and behaviors, time spent with horses is often something that is sought after. 

Engaging with equine partners is stimulating, with lots of moving pieces. For someone who struggles with impulsivity, inattentiveness, or hyperactivity, pulling up to the farm is an ultimate thrill, as the energy and excitement that the farm brings feels like a big playground filled with new smells, sights, feelings, and time spent with equine partners who harness their own personalities and social structures! 

But wait. 

The therapeutic benefits that our horses bring to our table go so much deeper than that. When developing a relationship with a horse, your emotions, your body language, and your thought processes must match, to build trust with your equine partner. Being congruent in this way, is something that those who experience ADHD often struggle with. 

One's mind may be focusing on one outcome of completing the grooming process, while their emotion may be that of determination, while their body language and energy may be fast-paced and quick. The quickness of their body language and movements may create an uneasy horse, where pacing, pawing, and anxiety may begin to show. The client may be unable to complete the grooming process due to the horse’s movements, and then the emotion may turn to frustration or defeat, as the excitement or determination wears off. The client may wonder what could be going on with the horse? Why is their equine partner pacing and seemingly nervous? Why are they resisting to lift their hooves for a good picking? 

This is a perfect therapeutic teaching moment where this clinician would work with the identified client to take a pause. To explore congruence and incongruence, and how if we match our thoughts, emotions, body language, and behaviors, our equine partner will respond to us in a different way, and we can complete the task at hand. 

Although I have been a clinician for many years, my horses have a way of showing me things before I observe them myself. Over the winter, Romeo and I (see EAP featured horse of the month for March on Reins of Heart Wellness Center, PLLC’s social media!) were working with a lovely client who could not contain their excitement about being up close and personal with their equine partner. As we discussed horse and barn safety, this client became impulsive, and approached Romeo at his haunches, moving fast, and unable in that moment to slow down and connect. Romeo, sensing the shift in energy, watched my movements and scanned my energy and body language as I stepped toward our client, to keep them safe. Watching me, Romeo shifted his weight to his left side, and swung his rear end in the opposite way, to create more space for our client. 

As we stepped away from Romeo together, to review safety expectations once again, Romeo with a gentle eye, and a relaxed stance, took a deep breath. As he let it out, our client followed suit with a deep and cleansing breath, a pause, and we waited until we felt congruent and calm before we approached Romeo again for our activity. 

This idea of non-judgmental instant feedback, helped our client manage their behavior and take a pause before approaching the situation again. It is this clinician’s hope, that this client was able to take this experience with their equine partner, and utilize it outside of the magic of the barn, while in real-world time, with family members or peers. That this activity created some sort of social awareness about this client’s physical body in their social environment, and how their body language affects others. 

Some common themes that I have seen over the years working with clients who experience behavior traits and feelings related to ADHD/ADD are low self-esteem and confidence, impulsivity, inattentiveness, difficulties communicating, the need to fidget, anxiety, difficulties matching emotional intent with physical body language presented to others, and hyperactivity related to an extreme difficulty with calming the physical body.

The intense struggle with regulating their body to the social environment can lead to much distress in a person who experiences ADHD. Our equine partners are able to provide three key factors to the treatment of ADHD. They are able to provide that relational connection and social relationship, they are able to provide immediate feedback in a completely non-judgmental way, they are able to love unconditionally, saying ‘hey, we can try this as many times as we need to, I am here. I am still here.’

Gabrielle Johansen, LICSW, ESMHL

Neuroplasticity and the human/equine connection

Winston Churchill once said; “there is something about the outside of a horse that is good for the inside of a man.”

This quote has always hung in our barn, and as a child, I always wondered what it meant. What was it about my childhood pony, Peaches, on the outside, that was good for me on the inside?! Looking back, the answer to that was the confidence and grounding Peaches brought to me through my coming of age. The quiet sigh of understanding as my adolescent friends left me out from a gathering, or when hormones drove me into tears because “nothing felt quite right.”

This continued throughout my life. Each new pony and each new horse gave back to me in a completely unique and special way. They were guiding me therapeutically, and I didn’t even know it.

Columbia University Irving Medical Center recently published a study looking at the effects that Equine Assisted Psychotherapy has on war veteran survivors diagnosed with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. This November 2021 study is the first university-led study evaluating PTSD and equines, and protocols to guide practitioners. Finally, horses are beginning to get the recognition they deserve in healing humans, and finally, my career path is getting the recognition and research it deserves!

The study was in-depth, but a takeaway is as follows; “Both PTSD patients and horses are preoccupied with ongoing concerns about trust and safety. This innovative therapy facilitates bonding, overcoming fear, and re-establishing confidence,” said Dr. Neria, professor of medical psychology (in psychiatry and epidemiology) and director of Columbia’s PTSD program. One must build trust with a horse for it to warm to you.

Through horse-human interaction, veterans can relearn how to recognize their feelings, regulate emotions, and better communicate, as well as build trust and come to trust themselves again—all valuable tools to help them succeed with family, work, and social relationships,” Dr. Fisher said.” (Clinical Journal of Psychiatry).

One of my previous posts addressed how therapy with horses can help re-create new neural pathways from ones that have been damaged in the brain due to chronic traumatic stress, PTSD, and biopsychosocial adversity.

Let’s talk science for one second.

Neuroplasticity is the event of new connections of neural pathways being made, the re-creation or rewiring of the brain, if you will. So with the tools to heal and grow, we can create these new neural pathways that will provide us with the stabilization of mental health symptoms and diagnoses related to past trauma.

Co-regulating with equines, building a trusting rapport, accepting and respecting the boundaries our equine partners show and teach us during session, even when it’s hard, and the energy exchange that takes place all work together to heal the brain. Literally, rewire it. No matter what you have been through, the level of adversity you have experienced, how stuck you may feel, how trauma may make you feel like your brain will never function as it once did, there is evidence based research that engaging with horses under a therapeutic lens can and WILL jumpstart neuroplasticity resulting in your emotional wellness, healing, and inner peace.

You deserve to heal.

You are not alone.

Our horses have so much to teach you.

Gabrielle Johansen, LICSW, ESMHL

Happy Holidays!

The chilly early winter days have proven to require more grit than in years past, as we continue to navigate through this pandemic seemingly less seamlessly than our usual.

Here at Reins of Heart Wellness Center, PLLC, we have spent October and November finding comfort in wrapping our arms around our beloved horses’ necks, and deeply breathing in their peace. As a therapist, I have also been leaning into my equine partners for grounding and solace. The importance of carving out time for ourselves where we can genuinely and vulnerably just “be” is more beneficial than ever. Human connection feels fresh, as so much of our past eighteen months has included isolation of some sort through social distancing, masking, remote learning, all for the greater good of our community.

I honor the freshness of in-person connection, and my equine partners buffer as I navigate the courageous vulnerability that my clients bring to session.

I extend a heartfelt thank you to both my clients and my equine counterparts, as this space is magic because of all of you.

The horses and I will continue to show up for you for you as we work towards healing and recreating strength as we wade through these unprecedented times, together.

We are celebrating two months since my private practice launch, and the rewards have been plentiful. Watching my dream unravel of working with humans and horses together through a therapeutic lens has been the most fulfilling.

Expressing the utmost gratitude to my clients, my horses, and our beloved little red barn. Wishing you all a safe, warm, and peaceful December.

Happy holidays to all!

Gabrielle Johansen, LICSW, ESMHL