Data Shows Significantly Reduced PTSD Effects for Service Members, Veterans and Their Families using the EAGALA (Equine-Assisted Growth And Learning Association) treatment model.
For too many veterans, active duty military, and the people they love, the effects of trauma can tear lives apart, their marriages and families. The reality is that military service members who are receiving traditional, office-based “talk therapy”, consider it ineffective or worse, disgraceful. This kind of treatment – no matter how skillful or well-intentioned the clinical practitioner is – can feel submissive. Feelings that collide directly with the very culture and values of military people!
Therapy should not marginalize or stigmatize... Treatment must connect to an individual in a genuine way - with the culture and mindset of the people it’s designed for. Healing will not come otherwise.
STAT offers 50 minute therapy intervals or day-long retreats, and eventually weekend retreats. The newest program called STABLE THINKING combines equine-assisted psychotherapy, education, practical coping skills, as well as outdoor activities to include hikes, mindfulness/yoga in the grass, and more - a five star recipe for rapid traumatic stress reduction.
The EAGALA Model is a non-mounted, face-to-face experience with the horses in the open (the arena, the pastures, the stable), under the direction of the treatment team. The horses serve as powerful metaphors, helping clients find their own solutions. Horses can help people understand themselves more deeply. They have a special capacity to read and respond to peoples’ non-verbal signals and cues. Horses are non-judgmental and offer an unfiltered, non-threatening reflection of the client’s inner emotional state. They offer this without stigma or shame. And that’s why the hands-on, fully engaging work made possible by equine assisted psychotherapy and The EAGALA Model leads to powerful emotional breakthroughs and life-changing insights.
The STAT Ligonier Therapeutic Center staffs 4 EAGALA Certified practitioners with various experience and backgrounds, one of which is also a CCTP (Certified Clinical Trauma Professional).
EAGALA is the only association of equine-assisted practitioners that requires a licensed, credentialed mental health practitioner and a certified equine specialist to collaboratively lead the treatment at all times. It is also the only association of its kind with its own special Military Services Designation, which adds additional military-grounded experience and training requirements, beyond the standard EAGALA credentialing.
STABLE THINKING
Catherine Markosky, Founder & CEO of STAT Inc.
Mandy Orvosh, MA, LPC, CCTP