Equine-Assisted Services

Why Horses?

Horses are beautiful, intelligent, sensitive and strong beings who can evoke strong feelings in clients or engage clients in the learning process.

Calm and healthy horses can assist in co-regulating a client's nervous system, can model healthy living and expression of feelings, as well as offering non judgemental safety and trust.

Horses can offer unique bio feedback and hold clients in a way traditional therapy environments cannot.

The natural environment can also contribute positively to therapeutic outcomes for clients.

What are some benefits of Equine-Assisted Services?

Emotional awareness and affect regulation

  • Improved social skills

  • Empathy and relationship skills

  • Distress tolerance

  • Confidence and self esteem

  • Reducing stress

  • Boundary setting

  • Promoting movement and activity

  • Meaningful connection

  • Proven scientific benefits of mindfulness

  • Increased attention

  • Problem solving

  • Connection with nature

  • Equine-assisted therapy (EAP) is a hands-on, professional therapy that uses horses to help people of all ages meet emotional, thinking, behaviour, relationship, and mental health goals. At Firefly Counselling Services, a registered counsellor provides EAP. Unlike talk therapy, EAP focuses on non-verbal communication, body awareness, and the relationship with both the horse and the therapist.

    What happens in an EAP session?

    In EAP, clients are offered ‘safe’ (physically and emotionally) experiences  with horses for the purpose of exploring self-experience in relationship, building self-awareness, building awareness of patterns or habits that are no-longer serving them well, developing psychological and social skills and addressing therapeutic goals clients have identified.

    What does this look like?

    • Observation of horses

    • Meeting with horses at liberty

    • Lead-line experiences including touching,

    • grooming and leading

    • Liberty leading (leading horses without a lead rope)

    • Creative activities with horses

    Who attends EAP?

    Clients - young, old or in-between who are experiencing:

    • Anxiety

    • Depression

    • Trauma

    • Addiction

    • Eating disorders

    • ADHD

    • Clients looking for alternatives to room-based therapy

      $150/hour

  • EAPD is a guided equine-assisted learning session designed to support personal insight and emotional skill development through interaction with horses. Inspired by the Horse Wisdom Program®, created by Meg Kirby through the Equine & Animal Assisted Psychotherapy Institute, sessions focus on building practical social and emotional life skills in an experiential and engaging way. Sessions offer clients the opportunity to explore a personal focus area and a unique opportunity for learning, reflection, and personal growth in a supportive environment with horses.

    These sessions are perfectly matched with an AirBnB weekend away or shorter term equine-assisted experience.

    EAPD can also be tailored to couples, families or groups.

    Prices can vary based on individual or group needs

    • The Horse Wisdom Program® is a safe, social and emotional learning experience.

    • The 8 week program provides a personalised space for children to explore, reflect and grow at their own pace.

    • Each 1 hour session explores a new theme, using nature and the presence of horses to gently build confidence, emotional awareness, resilience, communication, empathy and healthy boundaries.

    • Suitable for 1-2 participants per session.

    • The Horse Wisdom Program® was created by Equine & Animal Assisted Psychotherapy Institute.

    • Shana is a registered Counsellor & Equine-Assisted Psychotherapist.

  • Shana is an Australian Counselling Association (ACA)-registered counsellor who is able to provide counselling & equine-assisted therapy to self managed & fund-managed NDIS participants.

    I would love to discuss how counselling can benefit you or your client.

  • If you’d like an in-person horse experience but don’t see an option that feels just right, let me know your preferences and we’ll work together to create something that suits you.

    Prices can vary based on individual or group needs

Contact & Bookings