Alternative PTSD Therapies: Equine Therapy — Transcript

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1. 0:06I think a lot of times the horses pick
2. 0:07us and we don't pick the horses they
3. 0:10know your
4. 0:11emotions you can't hide them you must be
5. 0:14in a good place you must they're like 30
6. 0:18times more sensitive to what's going on
7. 0:20inside my life was saved by a horse
8. 0:23that's what started this whole program I
9. 0:24I had no idea that horses could do what
10. 0:26they do uh pick a spot against that rail
11. 0:30and leave a space between horses all
12. 0:33right do whatever you have to to get
13. 0:35that horse
14. 0:36calm our program is called combat
15. 0:39veterans Cowboy Up When I first realized
16. 0:43what these horses were doing for me I
17. 0:44decided you know what maybe these horses
18. 0:46can help other veterans so that's when
19. 0:48the program started drop that lead rope
20. 0:51and all of you have to back off like 20
21. 0:54feet and stop and all those horses have
22. 0:57to stay ground hit without moving their
23. 0:59feet
24. 1:01horses can be really I mean Super
25. 1:04therapeutic for uh veterans who have who
26. 1:07have suffered some type of trauma while
27. 1:10they were in the military before this
28. 1:12program I contemplated suicide many
29. 1:14times many of us have been very close to
30. 1:18taking our lives I
31. 1:22tried and by um the grace of God I found
32. 1:27a program like this oh relate that us
33. 1:30some Human Experience through the horses
34. 1:33using the horses as the medium uh we
35. 1:35start teaching different therapies and
36. 1:39and uh tools and and techniques for the
37. 1:42veterans that they can use in their life
38. 1:45out there in their human herd but they
39. 1:47learn it from the horses from dealing
40. 1:48with the horses if I can learn to
41. 1:51treat and be calm around a horse I can
42. 1:55take those skills around um humans and
43. 1:59family members and friends I think
44. 2:02what's happened to us because of the
45. 2:04traumas and and all the military
46. 2:06training and everything is we've kind of
47. 2:07swung over to that reactive side of our
48. 2:10brain and that's where we're spending
49. 2:12way too much time almost 130 uh clients
50. 2:16have come through the program veterans
51. 2:18um the success rate is is phenomenal
52. 2:22those who have fully participated in the
53. 2:25program which is at least 10 sessions
54. 2:28have had an experience
55. 2:31recovery that has never been seen before
56. 2:34I don't think in one session you're
57. 2:35going to get healed because this is more
58. 2:38of like a holistic type healing it takes
59. 2:40time and it takes consistency so I think
60. 2:43it's something you have to come back cuz
61. 2:45each week we
62. 2:47may learn one thing that'll help you
63. 2:50with children one week it'll help you in
64. 2:54crowds if you isolate a horse completely
65. 2:57from the herd I mean totally they can't
66. 2:59miles and miles away from any other
67. 3:01horses that horse's Health both physical
68. 3:04and mental take a nose dive and it can
69. 3:07kill the horse it can kill the horse we
70. 3:10are the same way even though we're
71. 3:12predators and have a human herd our
72. 3:14tendency as veterans with PTSD and all
73. 3:17these issues going on we have a tendency
74. 3:19to isolate ourselves from our human herd
75. 3:22and guess what that can kill us too it's
76. 3:26the most devastating thing we do to
77. 3:27ourselves isolation thinking that we're
78. 3:30we're staying away from all the threats
79. 3:32and that but we're really just tearing
80. 3:33ourselves apart it's that isolation can
81. 3:36kill just like it does the
82. 3:42horse it's tremendously therapeutic and
83. 3:45it's helping our clients move much
84. 3:48further in recovery than traditional
85. 3:50therapy alone can do to build
86. 3:52relationships not only with the horses
87. 3:54but the veterans here has helped me
88. 3:57tremendously to continue to build
89. 4:00relationships with my family and friends
90. 4:04I know it saved me
91. 4:08[Music]