Equine-Assisted Psychotherapy Works to Help Troubled Teens!

At our school for troubled girls, we utilize the Eagala Model as our framework for all Equine-Assisted Psychotherapy. Eagala is a distinct experience-based framework designed to empower young women to analyze their situations, make connections, and find solutions through personal and physical experiences.

Eagala clients have reported that they have been able to change and grow more effectively and quickly than through traditional approaches. It is possible that Equine-Assisted Psychotherapy can reach clients where traditional therapy cannot. This powerful and effective approach has a lasting impact on young people, families, and groups. At Red Hawk, we believe in the Eagala Model so much that we use it as an essential component of our staff training.

Equine-assisted psychotherapy is one of our most influential and innovative modalities for addressing a wide range of therapeutic needs in adolescent girls. Through interactions with horses and with help from equine therapists, our young women discover and explore behaviors and relationship patterns that have become problematic in their day-to-day lives. The very size and strength of the horses can stir deeply buried emotions while affording opportunities to identify and resolve practical matters of communication, empathy, and basic interpersonal respect. Interactions with the horses bring up thoughts and behavior patterns related to the issues that have brought clients into treatment. We identify these patterns and customize experiential exercises to address each client’s needs.

Equine Therapy Offers an Effective and Creative Way for Troubled Girls to Learn About:

• Self-worth and personal integrity
• Evaluation and establishment of healthy relationships
• Effective communication
• Dual diagnosis
• Eating disorder recovery
• The value of trust and respect in relationships
• The dynamics of power in relationships (e.g., bullying vs. equity)
• Assertiveness vs. aggressiveness
• Respect for diversity and individuality
• The importance of teamwork and community
• Healing from trauma