Our Approach:

Stage Two

All children go through stage one of our program in a similar fashion. It is foundational to our work with all clients regardless of their presenting concerns. Stage two is more individualized based on the insights and information acquired concerning client needs in stage one.

Broadly, in stage two, the child’s new, emerging sense of self is actively engaged to acquire new insights and to learn and apply a range of new regulation and emotional intelligence skills in an ever deepening and attuned relationship with the horse – an honest and non-judgmental partner and barometer of the child’s inner state and outer behaviors. Growth and change is experienced as clients learn to regulate their inner world and adapt their actions to the horse’s ongoing feedback. The parent(s) also become more actively involved in the process, eventually assuming a leadership role in the child/horse/parent relationship as the therapeutic team helps the child transfer their newly honed insights and skills to their relationships with others.

Depending on the individual treatment goals, our program concludes with an appropriate expressive art experience, conducted in partnership with the horse, and designed to capture and symbolically express the evolving family narrative.