Equine Assisted Psychotherapy (EAP)

Equine Assisted Psychotherapy
Allen Financial Insurance Group & The Equestrian Group
EAP – Equine Assisted Psychotherapy
By: Allen Financial Insurance

Equine Assisted Psychotherapy

While many people know horses can be used for therapy, they often don’t understand that there are several different kinds of therapy. And while many people have heard of therapeutic riding centers, far fewer have heard of equine assisted psychotherapy.

The common misconception of equine assisted psychotherapy is it is some sort of therapy for the horse. Though some people could make a case for the benefits to horses of participation in all kinds of therapy, equine assisted psychotherapy is for the benefit of the human(s) involved.

What is EAP?

Equine-assisted psychotherapy (EAP) is a specialized form of psychotherapy using the horse as a therapeutic tool to learn, and/or observe. This modality is designed to address self-esteem and personal confidence, communication and interpersonal effectiveness, trust, boundaries and limit-setting, and group cohesion.

EAP can be used for a variety of goals, including, but not limited to, helping those who suffer from anorexia and bulimia, providing exercises for team building, and offering a unique environment to individuals who want something different than therapy in a clinic environment.

The Equestrian Group : Equine Assisted Psychotherapy

The Equestrian Group has been involved in various forms of Therapeutic Riding for thirty-five years. We have been directly involved with EAP insurance since it’s inception. Our policies are custom designed to meet the unique insurance needs of your Equine Assisted Psychotherapy Program. Written through an A+ rated national insurance company this comprehensive policy offers both flexibility and broad protection at extremely competitive prices.

OK Corral Series Program Benefits

A+ rated, admitted national insurance company
Internet certificates and policy inquiry
Liability coverage throughout the United States & Canada
Premium credits for advanced EAP certification
Employees & Volunteers automatically named as additional insureds
Clinics, Shows & Special Events included
Can be written with a Commercial Equine Package

General Underwriting Guidelines:

Therapeutic riding application and questionnaire must be completed in its entirety and all attachments and required documents must be included with the original submission for consideration. Omission of any part without explanation will not be considered until all parts are included.

A minimum of two years experience in handicapped or therapeutic operations for the equine instructor is required. The individual may have gained the experience from this operation or from working at a previous operation.
Personnel with past history of violence or criminal behavior or conviction are not acceptable for this program. All personnel will need a complete background history on file with the facility.
Participants must be four years of age or older to participate in any program.
Participants with a past history of violence or criminal behavior or conviction are not acceptable for this program.
Application/questionnaire must be signed by the applicant. A faxed signature will be acceptable.
An inspection of the premises may be requested by the underwriter.

The Policy

Our commercial liability policy is specifically designed to ensure your Equine Assisted Psychotherapy riding business including:

Coverage is written on an occurrence basis (not claims made) through a domestic A- Rated insurance company tailored to fit your specific stable operations and budget.

Occurrence	$500,000 to $1,000,000
General Aggregate	$1,000,000 – $3,000,000
Aggregate Products/Operations	$1,000,000 – $3,000,000
Personal Injury / Advertising Injury	$1,000,000 – $2,000,000
Medical	$5,000
Fire Legal Liability	$100,000

EAP Highlights:

A+ rated national insurance company
Occurrence Basis
Up to $10 million liability limits
Commercial liability applies in the U.S., U.S. territories and Canada.
Products/Completed Operations included.
Personal Injury & Advertising Liability included.
$50,000 Fire legal liability.
$5,000 medical payments included.
Employees are named as Additional Insured.
Defense cost paid in excess of policy limit
Extended coverage for Additional Insured.
Independent contractors can be added to policy.
Care, Custody & Control liability option
Special Events coverage available
Convenient payment options

OK Corral Series

THE OFFICIAL CERTIFICATION PROGRAM FROM
GREG KERSTEN, THE FOUNDER OF EAP.
http://okcorralseries.com/

The O.K. Corral Series educates, promotes, and supports professionals in the practice of authentic equine-assisted work. Authentic equine-assisted work honors and integrates natural horse and herd behavior as a model for human mental and emotional health using the equine-assisted philosophies developed by Greg Kersten, Founder of Equine Assisted Psychotherapy.

In the early 1990s, Greg Kersten created the term “Equine Assisted Psychotherapy” to describe the specific work he was doing with horses and at-risk youth who were incarcerated or in treatment. At the time, no one had ever used the phrase “equine-assisted” to describe the powerful healing and informative powers of horses on the lives of humans. Kersten published the first Equine Assisted Psychotherapy training manual in 1995 through his corporation, Equine Services, Inc., and began to certify professionals in the practice of EAP, using core principles and specific exercises he had found to be particularly effective in his work.

All instructional activities at O.K. Corral Certification Seminars are the original creation of Greg Kersten, including the Greg Kersten Signature Series exercises that provide the foundation for the field of Equine-Assisted Psychotherapy: Life’s Little Obstacles, Temptation Alley, Equine Billiards, Extended Appendages, Catch and Halter, Longeing, Ground Tie, Lie Detector, and Safety Dismount.

The O.K. Corral Series teaches ground (95%) and mounted exercises for use in the practice of Equine Assisted Psychotherapy and equine-assisted learning.

The O.K. Corral Series offers five different certification seminars to meet the varied needs and interests of the ever-growing field of equine-assisted wellness.

The motif of mileposts is used to symbolize the posts around the O.K. Corral. Each O.K. Corral Series Seminar is given a color code to signify its milepost. O.K. Corral Series Seminars may be attended in any order, one or all, certification in EAP and EAL is earned after the very first seminar!

The underlying theme of the O.K. Corral Series is that people are not as far from “O.K.” as they may believe. Getting every area of our lives back to “O.K.” is the goal, and it is attainable, through techniques of observation, knowledge, and communication.

PRESSURE/PAIN:

Awareness of how our equine counterparts respond (physically or mentally) to pressure (physical or emotional) and pain (physical or emotional) can give us insight into our own responses. Do we know when we are feeling pressure versus pain? Do we respond appropriately and healthfully? Horses teach us how to evaluate and respond to the world around us.

ATTENTION/AT-EASE:

Both aspects of life are essential, but not necessarily in equal parts. Horses have mastered their individual balance between time at attention, and time at-ease. We learn to identify our own needs and imbalances, as well as those of the people around us. This simple, yet profound principle teaches us to be more effective communicators, businesspeople, friends, and human beings.

RE-CIRCLE PROCESS:

New and unknown circumstances elicit a notable response from horses. Typically physical, this response demonstrates a safe, measured, and therapeutic way for humans to confront the more fearsome aspects of life. A mental metaphor can be made to signify the physical Re-Circle Process to optimize our way of perceiving and thinking about situations we encounter every day.

PUSH/PULL:

Horses provide both physical and emotional metaphors into our own behavioral patterns. When do we push? When do we pull? Do we do one more than the other? When do we push and when do we pull? How does our pushing and pulling behavior affect others?

THE NONVERBAL ZONES:

Do you know what you are saying when you aren’t saying anything? Horses make good use of their body language to convey the most basic and important messages to each other. Humans do the same. Sometimes what our mouths say is not in alignment with what our bodies say. The three nonverbal zones identified in EAP instruct us to be more effective communicators by aligning our verbal and nonverbal messages.