Our Services
Earth-Soul Connection Equine Assisted Psychotherapy Sessions
“Humans did not invent leadership. It exists throughout the animal kingdom as a practical way for social animals to communicate., negotiate and collectively contribute to the survival of the individuals and the whole group. As soon as two social beings begin to relate, a powerful but subtle request for information is made. Who is leading? What are we doing together? What are we communicating? What needs to be negotiated? What is my role? What is your role?”
All Equine Assisted Psychotherapy sessions are led by the Mental Health Specialist, supported by the Horse Specialist and The Horse(s). Strict safety protocols are followed as proscribed by Equine Assisted Psychotherapy Institute of South Africa (EAPISA), a professional body that strives to maintain the strictest clinical and legal standards as required by the constitution of the Health Practitioners Council of South Africa.
Individual and family participants who are seeing a mental health practitioner (MHP) should only do EAP with the consent of their MHP and there needs to be a sharing of mental health information from the primary MHP to the EAP MHP to enable useful and effective EAP outcomes.
If an individual or family participant is not currently seeing an MHP, then a consultation with Dr Karien Botha should take place prior to the EAP session. Dr Karien Botha is based at Paarl Medical Centre.
The mental health costs of an EAP session may be covered by the majority of medical aid schemes, depending on your package. The cost of the horse specialist is not, and needs to be paid separately. Where the costs are not covered by medical aid, a flat fee applies for the session. Please contact us for pricing of our services.
Individual sessions
The participant in an individual session is requested to do specific activities with the horse(s). While doing these activities the observed behavior of the horse(s) leads the EAP team to explore with the participant what is happening on an emotional level as words are spoken and activities performed. This is called processing and it happens in the moment, providing immediate feedback to the participant about themselves. Processing is also done after the activities.
A session is 60 minutes duration
Family sessions
Family groups can be spouses/life partners, with or without children. These sessions usually revolve around communication, boundaries, conflict, with activities designed to highlight these areas. The session proceeds much like an individual session, with processing happening during and after the activities with the horse or horses.
A session is 1 hour 15 minutes duration.
Group sessions
Corporate, clinical or school groups can participate in group EAP sessions for a variety of reasons, with the depth of processing being determined by the level of intimacy/trust within the group.
The purpose of the group session may be improving teamwork, leadership skills, conflict management or can be more focused on the individual life path of each participant.
Groups can range from 4 persons to more than twenty. Duration of the session is dependent on numbers.
