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Counseling and Consulting Services at Shades of Grace
EMDR Therapy
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing has been deemed the Gold Standard of treatment by the World Health Organization for trauma. EMDR therapy helps the brain reprocess traumas so they no longer trigger us. EMDR helps to relieve depression, anxiety, relapse triggers, grief, PTSD, complex trauma, panic attacks, among other distressing situations and symptoms. It also helps to build confidence, a sense of calm, creative flow, clarity, self-compassion, courage, curiosity, and healthy connection with others . As we reprocess the traumatic things that happened and are able to identify and hold the beliefs we would prefer to have about ourselves, others, and/or the world, it becomes easier to release the negative beliefs that have contributed to our being stuck in the trauma.
Equine Assisted Therapy
Equine-assisted therapy includes horses, who can help us build clear communication, leadership, boundaries, self-care skills. EMDR therapy can also be added to our work with horses to help move trauma along in an experiential way. Horses are great therapy partners as they provide attunement, mirroring, and practicing of new skills in real-time. They also help us to ground ourselves when we feel overwhelmed, by sharing calm and quiet space with us as we check in on our intentions, energy, and where we may be focusing our attention. They do for us what they do for their four-legged herd mates.
Sandtray Therapy
Sandtray therapy helps us to project our inner world into the sand, where we can work through unresolved traumas or problems that seem unsolvable. EMDR therapy, when added to the Sandtray experience, is another way to access the brain's memory network, while working through the trauma projected into the Sandtray. The Sandtray provides a space to identify and create solutions that we may not have been able to consider because of the traumatic memories. Visualizing and interacting with the images projected into the Sandtray often provides just the amount of distance needed from the problem to work through it.
Parts Work
Engaging with different parts of ourselves that emerged to protect us when we were young and vulnerable gives them a space to heal. EMDR therapy often includes working with the Parts that emerge during EMDR processing. Counseling services provided at Shades of Grace allow accessing all aspects of trauma in whatever form they take. Parts tend to emerge during Equine-assisted therapy and Sandtray as well. This provides a "real-time" experience of the Parts so that we can explore their protective nature and how we can help them to unburden what they have carried for so long.
Equine-Assisted Consultation for Therapists
Case Consultation in the Pasture: Exploring Countertransference and Trauma from an Equine Assisted Approach
Case Consultation in the pasture applies a component of EAGALA's Equine Assisted Personal Development to the exploration of countertransference and trauma experienced by clinicians. The EAGALA model is a solution-focused, experiential approach to psychotherapy, as well as to personal and professional development.
The Equine Assisted approach to case consultation incorporates a horse’s natural ability to perceive intention, respond to non-verbal communication, resolve ambiguous boundaries, and address confusing and double-bind messages. Equine Assisted activities are designed to assist the clinician in identifying how countertransference shows up in the counseling room. Horses provide vast opportunities for metaphorical learning that can be easily applied in the consultation room.
Horses also mirror human body language. They can reflect back to clinicians those areas where there may be a lack of awareness and congruence about their countertransference. Case consultation in the pasture allows clinicians to gain greater access to their own unconscious processes.
Consultation groups are now forming. Case consultation in the pasture can be provided on an individual or group basis. Clinicians can count 6 hours of consultation toward CEU hours.