experiential therapy

Just started equine therapy for my mental health issues. So excited 😊 🐎 🐴 I think working with the horses will be really beneficial. The biggest things I want to work on are building self confidence by working with the horses and learning to cultivate self-love. Equine therapy has been proven to be very beneficial for people with both physical and mental health challenges, such as Autism, ADHD, Anxiety, PTSD, etc. The horses act as a mirror to our emotions - they are good at sensing when you are sad, anxious, etc., so they can remind us to check in with ourselves. In addition, they can provide a comforting presence because sometimes it’s much easier to talk to an animal about trauma than another person. Also, how you interact with the horse can make you think about how you present yourself in the world and in relationships. I can’t wait to embark on this journey and hope it leads to much personal growth. If any of you all are animal lovers and struggling with mental health challenges I’d highly recommend looking into equine or another type of animal-assisted therapy. Also, if you can’t do therapy just cuddle with your pet. Our pets can provide us many therapeutic benefits. Just petting them can release dopamine (the feel good hormone) making use feel happier and more at ease! Hope someone finds this post helpful :) Best #ExperientialTherapy #TherapyAnimal #PTSD #Autism #ADHD #Anxiety #ChronicDepression

I haven’t written in a while.

I’ve been in residential for 2 months now. I’m staying 90 days, I believe. I get EMDR 3-5 times a week. It’s intense, but it’s helping. My alters are feeling more comfortable here. They’re coming out around people more and I’m not hiding when it happens. My case manager encouraged me to tell the people here about my DID. I was apprehensive. I thought everyone would see me as crazy and treat me differently. They didn’t, and they don’t. It’s so freeing to just be me, whoever I am at the time. I don’t want to go back home and into hiding. I may tell some people back home.

My insurance wanted to kick me out of here and send me to an eating disorder residential place, because I was losing too much weight. So I had to get a better handle on my eating disorder so I could stay here. I need to work on what’s underneath it if I want it to ever be okay. The trauma work I’m doing here is what will help.

They talk about the pendulum here. Going into the darkness, and then into the light. With all the EMDR work we need fun, too. So we go on “experiential”. We went car bashing (after writing to someone we are upset with and reading the letter). We went ziplining (fears can be good, and overcoming them). We go on a lot of hikes and it’s so amazing hiking in the mountains. We are learning how to healthily dip our toe into trauma, and then naturally pull ourselves back out of it.

I’m struggling with the desire to move out here. I have a roommate if I want to. But I can’t do that to the kids. I’d only see them in the summers. So I have to go back.

I’m doing good work here, even if some days feel like hell. That’s healing, I guess.

#Residential #ResidentialTreatment #ResidentialCare #emdr #Therapy #ExperientialTherapy #DID #DissociativeIdentityDisorder