WHO WE HELP

Equine Therapy (ET) can help those that suffer from social anxiety, depression, PTSD, and any other emotional imbalance that prevents living life to its fullest. If you’re experiencing any of the following issues, ET may offer relief.

Depression

Although everyone experiences ups and downs, if you have been feeling very low for over two weeks you may be depressed. Symptoms of depression can include:

• Difficulty sleeping or sleeping too much
• Having trouble concentrating or finding that previously easy tasks are now difficult
• Feeling hopeless and lost
• Constantly thinking negative thoughts no matter how hard you try to be positive
• Unable to stop eating or loss of appetite completely
• Feeling unusually irritable and angry
• Consuming more alcohol than normal
• Engaging in uncharacteristic risky behaviors or coping methods such as drinking too much, trying drugs, or reckless behavior
• Thoughts of suicide or think that life is not worth living

If you are having thoughts of suicide, call the suicide hotline now at 1-800-SUICIDE or 1-800-784-2433. If you feel that you are at risk of harming yourself, please go to your local emergency room. Do not wait, seek help immediately.

Anger Management

Everyone experiences anger. Getting angry is not a bad thing and at times may even be healthy. However, we must be careful to choose what we do with anger. If a person dwells on anger too long they become resentful and then bitter. Once bitterness seeps into a person’s heart it is very difficult to undo. Anger management will provide you with the skills to know what to do with feelings of rage and anger in order to handle them in appropriate reconciliatory ways.

Anxiety

That overwhelming feeling can hit at any time. For some, it is an everyday occurrence. For others, it sneaks up without warning causing extreme stress and discomfort. All people deal with some level of anxiety associated with basic life responsibilities. However, if you feel like your anxiety is interfering with your life or causing relational difficulties it is time to seek help.

Anxiety may be situational like not wanting to be in a large group of people or it may be learned. You may experience panic attacks if anxiety is not managed. Thankfully, anxiety is treatable (no matter how bad it may seem). You can overcome anxiety by learning the skills needed to recognize anxiety attacks, their source, and how to stop them.

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

With our country’s warriors returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, there has been an increased awareness of the symptoms of PTSD. However, PTSD may develop after any traumatic event such as a car accident, physical assault, or life-threatening situation. After experiencing a highly charged and dangerous situation the brain may develop an emotional memory that is essentially stuck in the traumatic event. Mixed emotions, fear, and a sense of confusion are normal after any kind of trauma. However, if symptoms continue to escalate rather than improve you may be experiencing Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. PTSD usually occurs around 3 months after the experience and can be characterized by the following symptoms:

• Flashbacks. Reliving the memory, and intrusive thoughts about the event (For example, hearing fireworks on the fourth of July may remind you of combat memories. A story about assault on the news may remind you of your own assault experience.)
• Avoidance (feeling numb). You may feel in a daze where you do not feel anything. You may lack interest in doing things you once enjoyed and begin to cut off the people and things that matter most to you.
• Anxiety. You may feel uncontrollably anxious. This anxiety often manifests itself as anger and irritability. You may begin to engage in risky behaviors or attempt to calm yourself with drugs. Having trouble sleeping and having an exaggerated startle reflex are all common factors related to anxiety as a result of PTSD.

We would especially like to thank our Men and Women in Uniform and their families for their continued achievements and sacrifices.

Trauma

We all have experiences in our life we would like to forget. However, some of us have experienced more pain than others. If you have been abused physically, emotionally, or mentally you have experienced a degree of trauma. The emotional wounds related to trauma manifest themselves years after any obvious physical damage has been done. Whether the traumatic experience is the result of a personal accident, tragedy, or overwhelming life experiences.

Trauma can leave people feeling numb, distant, fearful, and angry. Thankfully, traumatic events do not have to haunt you for the rest of your life. There are strategies available that can help you learn to cope with traumatic experiences and restore a sense of balance to your life. With the right strategies and attitude you can heal from your past experiences into a whole and happy life.

Marital Stress

All relationships experience ups and downs but chronic dissatisfaction or pain in a relationship should be out of the norm. From a counselor’s perspective, the saddest thing about counseling many couples is that they have waited so long to receive counseling that extreme bitterness and resentment has already taken root in the relationship.

Our approach to marriage counseling is strategic, solution-oriented, and provides couples with the insights and tools needed to improve their relationship. Counseling can focus on simply improving communication within the relationship or recovering from anger and resentment. The primary areas of conflict in relationships are finances, sex, and in-laws. Having an outside mediator helps couples identify patterns in their own behavior that are keeping them from giving and receiving what they truly need from each other.

Family and Behavioral Problems

Behavior issues can make parents want to scream! Counseling provides them with the tools needed to address behavior problems positively and consistently. Whether the behavioral issues are with a child or teen we aim to provide parents with strategies to overcome difficult behaviors without losing their minds.

Grief and Bereavement

Losing someone you deeply love is one of the most painful experiences in life. It may feel like the pain and sadness will never go away. These kinds of feelings and thoughts are normal responses to losing someone you love. There is definitely no timetable for grief and there is no right or wrong way to experience the grieving process. Nonetheless, there are healthy and unhealthy ways to cope with the pain of loss. While life is never the same after a loss it can still be experienced in a life-giving way.

While most people think of grief as only occurring at the death of someone you love, it may also be the result of ending a relationship or plans for the future:

• A relationship breakup
• Chronic pain
• Losing a job
• Infertility
• Death of a pet
• Loss of a cherished dream
• A loved one’s illness
• Loss of friendships
• Loss of the feeling of security after a trauma