MEDICINE HORSE CENTER OF MONTANA (MHCM) offers an equine psychotherapy program that combines the use of specially selected horses and a qualified mental health team to provide services for people in need of therapy with an emphasis on women, veterans and youth at risk with emotional and mental health issues; personal development assistance for building self esteem and self confidence and developing management skills for leadership, team-work and assertiveness. MHCM is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life of adolescents, veterans, and women through unique equine-assisted experiences. HOW IT WORKS AND WHO IT SERVES
EQUINE ASSISTED PSYCHOTHERAPY (EAP) is a rapidly growing field and showing significant improvements in the treatment of client’s symptoms. Our services specialize in working with clients suffering from trauma, recovering from sexual assault or domestic violence, as well as divorce recovery, depression and anxiety. EAP incorporates horses experientially for emotional growth and learning. It is a collaborative effort between a qualified mental health professional and a horse professional working with clients and horses to addresses treatment goals. Because of its intensity and effectiveness, it is considered a short term, or brief therapy approach. Our work has a different focus and intention than the Humans on Horseback program. Equine Assisted Learning (EAL) is similar to EAP but where the focus is on learning or educational goals. EAL often called Hippotherapy which concentrates on a physical, occupational, and speech-language therapy treatment strategy that utilizes equine movement as part of an integrated intervention program to achieve functional outcomes. Equine movement provides multidimensional movement, which is variable, rhythmic and repetitive. Our understanding of how these disorders affects the brain and human physiology has increased exponentially in the last decade. The field of neuroscience has exploded our understanding of how of depression, anxiety and trauma impact humans both as a neurological and physiological processes has led to a significant increase in holistic and alternative approaches to therapeutic interventions. Current best practices for effective treatment protocols include somatic components, or body centered approaches, such as art therapy, equine therapy, or Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) that address the need to release trauma from the body alongside more traditional therapy such as cognitive behavioral therapy to help the client cope with the symptoms associated with trauma and other mental health disorders.
