HEALING

on the horses are just so much more transformative and more meaningful than we can get in the gym,” she said.

Looking ahead, Petitt said she hopes to soon expand her team to include a physical therapist.

“And then I’m really hoping to hire a speech therapist as well, because riding the horses … there’s so much to do with our respiration rate when we’re riding them,” she said. “What that can do for speech language pathologists is really help with that physiological system of how we talk.”

At the Prestige erapeutic Equestrian Center, Petitt also o ers “therapeutic horseback riding,” which she explained is not a professional therapy service but is rather like a recreational sport where individuals learn riding skills. is experience can, in turn, lead to other bene ts such as helping deal with anxiety.

However, when it comes to getting professional therapy treatment for mental health conditions like coping with trauma, grief, abuse, or other challenging experiences, community members have an equinebased option — the therapists with Rocky Mountain Equine Assisted Psychotherapy, LLC.

Horses and psychotherapy

Carina Kellenberger and Dana Schultz, both licensed clinical social workers who grew up loving horses, established Rocky Mountain Equine Assisted Psychotherapy in 2013.

Schultz, who lives near Superior, and Kellenberger, who lives in Longmont, primarily practice at the Happy Dog Ranch in the Littleton area and at Medicine Horse in Boulder.

“We are licensed clinical social workers that have a trauma-specialty focus in … equine therapy,” Schultz said, explaining they do formal intakes and development clinical-based treatment plans.

ere is a di erence between equine-assisted therapy and equine-facilitated therapy, Kellenberger noted.

“When we rst started our business back in 2013, the word ‘equine-facilitated learning and psychotherapy’ did not exist, but that is the work we are doing,” Kellenberger said. “Equine-facilitated psychotherapy and learning means that the horse — the relationship with the horse is the vehicle for change.”

Under the practice of equine-facilitated psychotherapy, it is the client’s relationship and connection with the animal that is moving the sessions forward, she said.

“ e di erence between the learning and the psychotherapy are, like, a lot of the group work is mainly more learning because we’re not really diving into personal issues and we’re keeping it a little more surface level,” Kellenberger said. “But (in) the psychotherapy … we go as deep just like any o ce therapist would.”

Equine-assisted therapy is di erent because while horses are incorporated into the practice, the client’s relationship with them is not the driving force, she said. Rather, the horses are more of a tool component of the therapy.

“ ey might be being used more as a metaphor or as a way to help move through an activity, but they’re not — the relationship with the animal isn’t the central piece,” she added. “In the facilitated work that we do with our clients, it’s the relationship as the primary drive and the connection with the horse.”

Kellenberger and Schultz may use an equinefacilitated or an equine-assisted therapy approach when treating a client, as it depends on what the client is seeking, Schultz said. Kellenberger added that equine-assisted therapy is bene cial as an assessment tool.

Both Schultz and Kellenberger received certi cation in animal-assisted social work from the University of Denver’s Graduate School of Social Work, as well as completed training through the organization Natural Lifemanship in trauma-focused equineassisted psychotherapy. e trauma a lot of their clients experience is a ecting the way they show up in their human relationships, Kellenberger said. ese therapy sessions provide a way for clients to, in a safe space, start to make changes to those patterns and feel more comfortable not only in their relationship to the horse but in their relationships with people, explained Kellenberger.

“A lot of our clients, they’re coming to us because they’ve experienced trauma, and so we’re making sure that everything that we’re doing is through that lens as well,” Kellenberger said.

Schultz noted their approach is always using a clinical, evidence-based lens and horses are a part of the team. She works with clients to identify their primary goals and the horse becomes their partner in that journey.

“We know that therapy is hard and incredibly personal, and it’s a di cult journey for people to admit, like, ‘Hey, I need help.’ And so one of the things that we always do is provide our potential clients with a free meet-and-greet,” Schultz said, explaining the person can visit the ranch to meet her and hear the elevator pitch.

“Part of that elevator pitch is recognizing how difcult the therapeutic process and journey can be for some, and that the relationship that you have with the therapist is as important as the relationship that you are going to form with your horse,” she added.

Most of the work during therapy sessions is unmounted, Kellenberger said, explaining the clients may do things like grooming the horse, leading the horse or doing other things that help them feel connected to the horse.

Once sessions begin, Schultz said herself and Kellenberger are skilled at identifying patterns in people’s behaviors.

“We basically say, ‘I’m noticing this pattern. Is it helpful or not?’” Schultz said, explaining they use the identi cation of patterns to build rapport and trust with clients before then delving deeper into working through their trauma.

“Working with the horses — who are prey animals and are highly sensitive and attuned to our intentions, our emotions — they make excellent partners in this work, because they are able to kind of mirror or … show the patterns that people have in the same way that a human would,” Kellenberger said.

Schultz noted that the work being done during these therapy sessions happens in the moment, providing an opportunity for real-time change.

“Our horses … they are not magical unicorn creatures. ey are going to ignore our clients. ey are going to resist,” Schultz said. “And the client is going to, you know, respond or react.

“And that’s kind of what we’re observing and saying, ‘Hey, is this pattern helpful for you? Because it’s happening right here, right now. So, right now, in this moment, you’re feeling frustrated, you’re feeling abandoned, you’re feeling unheard, (or) you’re feeling whatever. What can we do right now in this moment to help shift the way that you’re feeling to a more balanced thought?’” she continued.

“ e actual brain starts to change while they’re working with the animal,” Kellenberger said. “And horses are really great at this, also, because they are prey animals. ey are looking for vulnerability and congruence from us because that’s how they keep themselves safe in the wild.”

“If a client is really holding back an emotion, they’re being incongruent, you’ll see the reaction from the horse in that way,” she continued. “As soon as … our clients are able to start to be more congruent in their own bodies, that feels very safe for the horse and that’s where the connections really start to form.”

It is through this real-time therapy work with the horse that the clients can begin to learn how to transfer the shifts in their approach into their everyday lives, Schultz explained.

“Having done this for 10 years, I can tell you, we have seen so many clients who come in and they’re like, ‘I’ve tried everything else. Nothing else works,’” Schultz said. “We see clients, I think, for a shorter period of time, I think, on average, than maybe what a traditional talk therapist in an o ce setting would see because it isn’t so retroactive or future-oriented.”

Kellenberger added, “It’s kind of just eye-opening, and it can unlock patterns that people didn’t know that they had that they’ve been working on for years in the o ce. So I would say that the horses are amazing partners because they are so sensitive and they can show us a lot about ourselves pretty quickly.”

Spreading the word

All three therapists expressed a desire to raise awareness of the existence of their practices and how it can help people.

“It’s as good as … any other therapy, and you don’t need horse experience to do it,” Schultz said. “It’s not just for any speci c type of person.”

Schultz said when she and Kellenberger entered into the industry, it was small and many people did not really understand it.

“ ere were so many people, especially when we were rst getting started, that were just kind of doing backyard therapy that were not therapists,” Kellenberger said, explaining that she and Schultz wanted to put their mental health degrees at the forefront of their work and help the eld gain notoriety.

“Because we were seeing the really great work that can be done when you’re doing it correctly,” she added, advising people to do their research and look for licensed therapists. Schultz highlighted that this type of therapy is for everyone, saying they have clients ranging from the ages of 7 to 78.

“It’s inspiring. I’m inspired by my clients to, you know, for me to keep my training up, to be the best I can be because they’re showing up to do the hard work,” Schultz said.

In her work in occupational therapy, Petitt shared how powerful it is to see clients transform throughout equineassisted therapy sessions.

“It’s just so cool to see them being able to accomplish the things that they weren’t able to accomplish before,” she said. “Raising awareness of what we do is so important and amazing to help our riders grow.” “It’s just amazing what horses do for us,” Petitt said. “ ey’re so inspiring.”

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