Somatic Experiencing with Animals: Supporting Safe Trauma Healing Through Animal Assisted Psychotherapy (AAP)

Somatic Experiencing is increasingly being integrated into psychotherapy practice across Australia and around the world. EAAPI (the equine & animal assisted psychotherapy institute) has been integrating somatic experiencing in their foundation curriculum (foundation EAP and AAP Training) and specialist Advanced Trauma Training for over 12 years. EAAPI Animal Assisted Psychotherapy is trauma informed, nature based therapeutic practice. Often involving horses and dogs internationally, the EAAPI training has trained students to safely and ethically include chickens, deer, cats, donkeys, goats, sheep and cows in their animal assisted practice. The AAP methodology has a wide range of clinical application, including supporting people to process trauma and stress through the body rather than through words alone.
At its core, Somatic Experiencing focuses on the body’s felt sense and the way the nervous system responds to stress and trauma. When combined with Animal Assisted Psychotherapy, it draws on the human-animal connection and carefully facilitated interactions to support emotional regulation, build a sense of safety and allow trauma to be processed and released in a gradual and supported way (amongst many other mechanisms).
Across Australia and internationally, practitioners trained in EAAPI Animal Assisted Psychotherapy may integrate Somatic Experiencing principles alongside other modalities to support clients experiencing anxiety, trauma and behavioural challenges.

A Body Oriented Approach to Trauma
Somatic Experiencing is a nervous-system and body-oriented therapeutic approach that works with how trauma is held within the nervous system. Within an Animal Assisted Psychotherapy setting, this includes developing regulation, resourcing and awareness of the clients’ window of tolerance. Clients are gently supported to notice sensations in the body and to build capacity to stay present with these experiences in safe and manageable ways in interaction with animals and the human therapist. Rather than revisiting trauma through narrative, the work focuses on what is happening in the body in the present moment, and an integrative approach that includes the brain, body, cognition and meaning and behaviour.

The Role of Animals in the Therapeutic Process
Animal Assisted Psychotherapy can take place in a variety of settings, including paddocks, farms, clinics or outdoor environments. While horses and dogs are commonly involved, many diverse species and individual animals can be safely, ethically and intentionally included in therapeutic work, when the practitioner knows how! “Animal assisted psychotherapy is incredibly diverse in its application,” explains Meg Kirby from the Equine and Animal Assisted Psychotherapy Institute (EAAPI). “This diversity allows practitioners to support a wider range of clients, helping them develop a new felt sense of safety and gradually reconnect with their bodies, emotions and new insight, new hormones, through the presence of the animal or safe opportunities to interact with animals. This process takes time, a safe relationship and clinical skill.”
Because of this, practitioners are expected to undertake substantial professional development that includes somatic and relationally oriented psychotherapeutic theory and practice, including understanding the role of animal as change agent,
animal wisdom and the mechanisms of change.

Supporting Safety and Connection
A key element of this work is the development of brain-based safety. For many, the presence of an animal or a group of animals can support the nervous system to settle, often reducing stress responses and supporting connection. Cortisol can decrease and dopamine, endorphins and oxytocin can increase (depending on the interaction, the animals and the felt sense of the client). This creates opportunities where clients feel safe enough and settled enough to begin exploring difficult emotions and experiences, as well as touching into new a felt sense of trust, joy and hope. Animal Assisted Psychotherapy practitioners draw on a range of techniques to support this process, always working within the client’s capacity and readiness.

Building Regulation, Awareness and Release
Sessions are designed to support clients to build self-awareness and strengthen their ability to regulate emotional and physiological states. Through guided interactions and therapeutic support, clients can begin to safely express and release
held survival responses through the body. Over time, this can lead to improved emotional regulation, greater resilience, more effective ways of coping, more agency, empowerment, choice and fulfilment. Importantly, the focus is not on retelling the story of trauma, but on supporting the body to complete processes that may have been interrupted.

The Importance of Skilled, Trauma Informed Practice
Not all Animal Assisted Psychotherapy practitioners are trained in trauma specific or
somatic approaches. This distinction is critical. When seeking support, it is important to look for practitioners who have training in Somatic Experiencing or similar body based approaches, alongside a strong grounding in trauma informed and relational practice. The Equine and Animal Assisted Psychotherapy Institute provides training that integrates Somatic Experiencing principles with relational psychotherapy approaches, supporting practitioners to work safely, ethically and effectively in this specialised field.

Finding the Right Therapist or Training Provider
If you are looking for support, consider therapists or counselling services that clearly reference: Somatic Experiencing or body-based approaches, Animal Assisted Psychotherapy with reputable certificates. Trauma-informed practice, Mindfulness and awareness work. When speaking with a potential practitioner, ask about how they integrate somatic approaches into their work with animals, and what training they have undertaken in trauma specific care. This is a specialised area of practice, and ensuring your therapist has the appropriate training is essential for safe and
effective outcomes.

When looking for an AAP Training provider who integrates somatic experiencing (SE) and trauma work, ask about the psychotherapy theoretical foundations of the course, where the faculty have themselves been trained, what they have specialised in, and which animals they themselves integrate in their clinical practice and training. AAP is a perfect fit with somatic experiencing and trauma work, so find a training provider who includes SE in their AAP methodology. You will find this at EAAPI AAP Training .

Help More Clients: Deepen Your Expertise in Counselling and Psychotherapy with Horses!

There is a moment in many practitioners’ careers where the question shifts. It is no longer just about helping clients, but about how to help them more effectively and how to help more kinds of people with different brains, behaviour, needs and complexity. How to work with complexity. How to create meaningful change that lasts.
For counsellors and psychotherapists, Equine Assisted Psychotherapy offers a powerful pathway to deepen practice. Not as a replacement for existing skills, but as an extension and expansion of them. A way of working that brings the body, the nervous system and relational dynamics into sharper focus. Horses bring real relationship into the equation alongside a whole host of other change mechanisms!

Moving Beyond Insight and Talk Based Therapy
Traditional counselling approaches often rely on verbal processing, thinking, talking, reflecting and dominant frontal lobe activities. While this can be highly effective to generate insight, insight is not always enough to shift behaviour, for memory reconsolidation and changing unconscious patterns, nervous states and sub-cortical knowing or memory. Insight and cognitive, reflective therapeutic work can’t reach the deeper layers of experience where trauma, attachment patterns and implicit memory are held.
Working with horses (with trained and skilful facilitators) creates opportunities to access these layers in a direct, relational and embodied way. Clients are not just talking about their experiences. They are having experiences. They are experiencing them in the present moment, in relationship with the horse. They are creating new neural firings and new neural patterns (with repetition). They are working at the level of experience, experiencing psychological safety, experiencing awareness (embodied experiencing in the present moment), experiencing new behaviours, new ‘felt sense’, new ‘knowings’ that arrive through the body, through the muscles, through nervous system, through the brain-body-being!

Why Horses Make a Difference
Horses are highly attuned social mammals. They are great at detecting nervous states, emotion and behaviour (subtle shifts in human emotion, body language and nervous system state. This makes them powerful partners in therapeutic work. In a session, a horse may move closer when a client softens, or step away when the client becomes forceful, co-regulate an overwhelmed or distressed person, provide emotional safety with non-verbal presence, support safe movement, touch and holding (with consenting horse who agrees to person on their back at a gentle walk) and so on. There is so much to learn about the role of horses as change agents and horse wisdom. This is our EAAPI difference, our intellectual property and a combination of over 20 years of living with herd and learning alongside these beautiful, sentient and intelligent beings. Horses are immediate and honest. They offer feedback that is not intellectualised or formed through concepts or judgement.
For practitioners, this creates a unique opportunity to observe real-time human-animal relational moments, real-time patterns (as they are unfolding), support change as it is arriving, and, deepen into the potential change moments, mechanisms and methods, given their uniquely trained psychotherapeutic knowledge and skill.

Deepening Clinical Insight and Intentional Practice
Integrating Equine Assisted Psychotherapy into your practice enhances your ability to work with complexity. It brings greater self-awareness and professional awareness. It sharpens an understanding of the value of non-verbal communication, somatic, relational and nervous system approaches, alongside reflective practice.

At EAAPI, this depth is supported through a strong clinical framework and theory of change. You begin to see more, sense more and respond with greater precision, in both your room-based therapeutic work and equine assisted practice. Many students and practitioners leave with a combination of personal awareness and skills and professional mastery that they never dreamed was possible.

Developing Therapeutic Presence
One of the most significant shifts for practitioners is in their own presence, their own embodiment, nervous-state regulation,emotional intelligence and creative practice. This is no accident! It is because of the very nature of the work and the depth of horse wisdom, nature wisdom and clinical wisdom they are now trained in. It is life-changing for many.
Clearly, our training is not just about knowledge and learning new skills. It is about developing the capacity for awareness, for presence, for contact (deep connection) and creativity that flows through a state of being, not just thinking or behaving.

Supporting a Wider Range of Clients
Equine Assisted Psychotherapy can be particularly effective for clients who struggle with traditional therapy settings, in clinics, with white walls, talking, bright lights, human-to-human relating. This includes those who find it difficult to articulate their experiences, those who are bored or who feel unsafe with people, those who feel disconnected from their bodies, or who have experienced relational trauma and definitely will not tolerate sitting in a small space, talking with a stranger (even a professional). Those who do not actually want to do therapy or who do want to do therapy, but its just too awkward, uncomfortable, over-stimulating.
By offering an alternative way of engaging, by including horses into the equation, all of a sudden there may be new interest, increased motivation, new felt sense of safety, more joy, and practitioners can reach clients who may not otherwise benefit from office-based approaches alone.
This expands not only who you can support, but how deeply you can work.

The EAAPI Difference
The Equine and Animal Assisted Psychotherapy Institute offers training that is grounded in clinical experience, psychotherapeutic rigour, ethical foundations and and a deep respect for the intelligence of horses and their species-specific needs.
Classes are designed to support student practitioners to integrate horses safely, ethically and effectively. There is a strong focus on relational and mutual safety, where horse welfare is centre-stage with client welfare and wellbeing in the therapeutic process.

A Natural Next Step in Your Practice
For many counsellors and psychotherapists who love horses it is a breath of fresh air to learn how to deepen their psychotherapy knowledge and skills whilst incorporating their equine friends ethically, consensually and creatively. Equine Assisted Psychotherapy is a natural and beautiful extension of the work they are already doing or want to be doing. It offers new opportunities, new perspectives, deeper insights and a more embodied way of engaging with clients.

If you are looking to expand your impact and support clients in more meaningful ways, Equine Assisted Psychotherapy offers a path forward. Through EAAPI training, you are not just learning a new approach or method. You are deepening your psychotherapeutic expertise and opening new possibilities for the people you work with. You are helping more clients.

What AI Cannot Teach: The Value of Human Expertise and Horse Wisdom in
Equine Assisted Psychotherapy Training

Why Lived Experience Still Matters in Equine Assisted Psychotherapy Training
The rapid rise of artificial intelligence has changed the way training and courses is created and delivered across many industries. Equine Assisted Psychotherapy is no exception. There is now a growing volume of AI generated training entering the market, often promising low cost, high speed and convenience. While this may be appealing on the surface, it raises an important question for practitioners and students alike. What is lost when training is removed from psychotherapy skills, lived experience, horse-human connection, relational depth and the wisdom of the horse?

More Than Information: A Relational, Contextual Practice
At its core, Equine Assisted Psychotherapy is not simply knowledge to be learned. It is a relational practice that unfolds in real-time between human, horse (or horses), therapist and environment. It requires attunement, presence and the capacity to respond to subtle shifts in behaviour, emotion and nervous system states, in context, in relationship.
These are not skills that can be captured through knowledge, data sets or automated content generation. They are developed through experience, relationship, reflection and direct engagement with people and horses.

The Limits of AI Generated Training
AI generated training often relies on aggregated knowledge. It draws from existing material and presents it in a structured and accessible way. This can be useful for introductory knowledge and understanding.
However, it cannot include experiential and relational learning, it cannot hold the depth of insight that comes from years of clinical practice, nor does it carry the embodied knowing, values and ethics that are essential in this field.

The EAAPI Difference
The Equine and Animal Assisted Psychotherapy Institute, known as EAAPI, has built its training on a fundamentally human foundation that is informed by the wisdom of horses, the wisdom of nature. The EAAPI curriculum is an unique combination of intellectual property curated from an experiential integration of over 25 years of psychology, social work and psychotherapy graduate and postgraduate education,
qualification, lived experience, insight, awareness and relationship with horses.
Rather than relying on generic content, EAAPI programs are shaped by lived clinical experience, ongoing practice, radical and purposeful mission including human rights, justice and equity, alongside animal rights, justice and equity.
This means that our training is not just about what you know, what you do, but about who you are, what you believe, integrity, congruence and ‘inside-out learning’.
EAAPI training integrates counselling and psychotherapy theory and methodology, including somatic experiencing, parts work, polyvagal theory, cognitive-behavioural therapy and relational approaches alongside the horse as change agent, horse wisdom, program and session templates. These are not presented as isolated concepts but are woven into a cohesive methodology that is unique to us!

Developing Therapeutic Presence and Skill versus check-lists!
Students within EAAPI programs are guided to develop their own self-awareness, therapeutic presence and skilfulness, understand the language of the horse, work safely and ethically with complex client therapeutic needs and goals with horses who are actively consenting. The horse is an active participant in the therapeutic process, and are the sessions, if aligned with EAAPI model are mutually benefiting clients, horses and practitioners. This requires a level of awareness, skill, knowledge and responsibility that cannot be reduced to a checklist.

The Importance of Nuance
AI can summarise, categorise and replicate patterns, but it struggles with the grey areas that define therapeutic work.
How do you respond when a client becomes dysregulated with horses?
How do you include the horses’ shift in feelings or behaviour in session, in psychologically safe and effective ways for clients?
These moments require more than knowledge. They require attunement, judgement, sensitivity and the ability to remain present under pressure.

Choosing Depth Over Convenience
Choosing training in this field is not just about gaining information or convenience. It is about shaping the kind of practitioner you want to become. AI generated content may offer efficiency, but it cannot replace the depth of learning that comes from being guided by experienced practitioners who have walked the path themselves.
EAAPI invites students into a different kind of learning experience. One that honours the holistic intelligence of the human students, the horses, and the complexity of authentic relationship.

In a time where technology is rapidly advancing, there is real value in returning to what cannot be automated. Being human. Being Horse. Connecting. For Real.

If you love working with people and horses, becoming an Equine Assisted Learning (EAL) practitioner could be the perfect path for you.

EAL is a unique way of supporting personal growth, leadership, and social emotional learning by partnering with horses in guided experiences. It’s a growing practice in Australia, and with the right training and preparation, you can develop rewarding services for your community.

Backgrounds of EAL Practitioners

Many EAL training students come from a diverse background including teaching, integration aide work, support work, corporate and leadership work, life coaching, executive coaching, community work, youth work and so on!

It’s also valuable to have some experience with horses and/or with people in supportive, educational, or leadership roles. Even if you’re not an experienced horse person, a willingness to learn and a love of horses is essential.

Choosing the Right Training Provider

You’ll need specialised training in Equine Assisted Learning. Look for a training provider that offers hands-on, practical learning as well as solid theoretical, ethical and professional foundations.

In a nutshell, a good course should cover the following and MUCH more –

• Understanding Equine Studies, Equine Behaviour, Ethical Practices with Horses, Safety with Horses
• Specific principles, theory and practice methodology of EAL
• Facilitation, individual and group work skills
• Trauma-informed, ethical and professional standards of practice
• Risk management and safety practices
• Soft and hard contracting, practice management and business basics
• Much more!

Being one of the early pioneers around the world, The Equine and Animal Assisted Psychotherapy Institute offers nationally and internationally renowned EAL training programs designed to help you build both the theoretical understanding and practical skills, and the confidence to begin your EAL services with both structured psycho-educational sessions and process oriented sessions.

Complete Practical Training, Submissions and Supervision

EAL training is both theoretical and highly experiential. You’ll usually take part in training where you learn comprehensive principles, theory and practice for your psychoeducational services with horses. You will learn facilitation skills and learn directly from and with horses, inside and outside of class-time. Assessments or submissions help ensure you’re ready to work safely and ethically and give you an opportunity to develop reflective practice, an essential skill of any good EAL practitioner.

Supervision, support and mentoring is also an important part of the process. Learning alongside experienced practitioners, trainers and/or supervisors allows you to refine your skills, reflect on your practice, and grow in confidence over time.

Meet Completion, Certification and Safety Requirements

After you have completed your education and training, if you want to work with child clients, you’ll need a current Working With Children Check (or Blue Card in some states). Additionally you will be required to complete your First Aid and CPR certificate before beginning practice. You will require Public liability insurance and Professional indemnity insurance to cover your work in equine assisted learning or equine facilitated learning. You can join a professional body, such as the International Institute for Complementary Therapists (IICT), once trained and awarded your certificate, which can provide insurance options and additional professional support.

Develop Your Practice with Supervision

While completing your training, you’ll need to conduct a number of EAL sessions to consolidate your learning and complete certificate requirements. Many courses require you to log and submit these sessions and participate in supervision. Supervision helps develop and refine your knowledge into real-world skills and practice.

A Rewarding Path

Equine Assisted Learning practitioners play an important role in helping people discover new strengths, build confidence, receive support and learn in ways that go far beyond the classroom. By combining your love of horses with professional training, you’ll be able to make a meaningful difference in the lives of others.

If you’re ready to take the next step, explore the training opportunities at the Equine and Animal Assisted Psychotherapy Institute. Our EAL training is designed for people who want to bring together their passion for horses with meaningful work that truly changes lives.

More about EAAPI

Horses offer a unique kind of change and healing. Be part of a global community of dedicated professionals who feel called to work deeply and authentically with horses.

• Online LIVE via zoom classes Mar-Dec 2026 & Self-paced Online Options
• Trauma-informed, somatic-focused, and relationally oriented
• Leading Equine Assisted Learning training, world-wide!
• Get the professional insurance you need completing our course
• Bonus: receive our Signature Horse Wisdom Program to use with your clients

Equine assisted psychotherapy and equine assisted
learning powered by Horse Wisdom 

Across Australia, more people are discovering the profound ways horses can support emotional healing, self-awareness, and personal growth. While horses have long been companions in work and recreation, their role in Equine Assisted Psychotherapy (EAP) and in Equine Assisted Learning (EAL) brings a deeper, more transformative connection — one that’s both ancient and strikingly relevant to modern life.

At the Equine and Animal Assisted Psychotherapy Institute (EAAPI), founded by psychotherapist and horse lover Meg Kirby, the focus is on creating ethical, evidence-informed frameworks for humans and horses to connect in ways that foster healing for both. From the rolling hills of Daylesford to rural and urban settings across the country, practitioners trained by the Institute are witnessing the healing properties of horses combined with skilful facilitation.

The unique sensitivity of horses

Horses are prey animals — finely tuned to read the body language, tone, and energy of those around them. This sensitivity allows them to respond to human emotions and subtle human behaviour in the moment, offering powerful feedback without judgement. In a therapeutic or
learning environment, this creates opportunities for clients to gain immediate insight into their own emotional states and relational patterns. EAP and EAL student practitioners learn about the unique role of horses as change agents with Institute foundation training.

In Equine Assisted Psychotherapy, trained therapists and allied health professionals work alongside horses to support individuals navigating anxiety, depression, trauma, grief, or relational difficulties. The process isn’t about riding or training horses or using horses as tools — it’s about integrated knowledge, practice, presence, awareness, and mutual respect. Clients often describe the experience as grounding and freeing; a rare chance to connect with or without words, to be seen and accepted just as they are.

Learning through relationship

In Equine Assisted Learning, the focus is on developing social and emotional learning skills, emotional intelligence, communication, and resilience. Whether in youth programs, corporate leadership settings, or community initiatives, horses help participants and clients explore concepts such as trust, boundaries, teamwork, and empathy, experientially.

As Meg Kirby describes it, “Horses give us so many things including embodied feedback, co-regulation and safe relationship. They help people experience authentic connection – and that’s something we carry back into other relationships at home and at work.”

Ethics and welfare at the heart

A defining feature of the EAAPI approach is its emphasis on ethical, welfare-centred equine assisted practice. Horses and other animals incorporated in therapy and experiential learning are not tools or props; they are sentient partners who have agency and choice in every interaction. This philosophy is reshaping the landscape of equine assisted therapy in Australia, placing the wellbeing of both human and horse at the centre of the work.

Practitioners trained through EAAPI’s internationally recognised programs learn not only therapeutic and facilitation skills, but also how to ensure every interaction supports safety, consent, and mutual benefit. This depth of training has helped establish EAAPI as Australia’s leading organisation in the fields of both Equine Assisted Psychotherapy and Equine Assisted Learning, and Animal Assisted Psychotherapy where different species of animals are ethically included to support human growth and healing.

A path from disconnection to connection

In a world that often feels disconnected, horses can invite us to slow down, breathe, and truly be. They remind us that healing doesn’t always happen through words — sometimes it happens through quiet connection, shared space, and the gentle rhythm of hooves beside us.

To learn more about training, click here.

Discover the steps to becoming an animal assisted therapist in Australia. Learn about Animal-Assisted Psychotherapy, training, and relevant regulations governing specialist psychotherapy approaches.

So, how do I study Animal-Assisted Psychotherapy?

Animal-Assisted Psychotherapy is about supporting people’s mental health and wellbeing with the help of animals such as dogs, horses, or other safe and suitable animals. If you’re drawn to working with people in this way, here are the key steps:

• Obtain a base qualification – You’ll first need a degree or diploma in a health-related field such as counselling, psychology, psychotherapy, or social work.
• Specialised AAP training – Next, enrol in a program that teaches you how to safely and ethically integrate animals into counselling and psychotherapy. The Equine and Animal Assisted Psychotherapy Institute offers nationally and internationally renowned training in this specialist practice.
• Gain Knowledge, Experience and Supervision – Practical training and supervised sessions help you develop confidence and skills.
• New Animal-assisted Knowledge and Skill including evaluating, assessing and training (where relevant) your animals. If you plan to work with your own animals, you’ll need to ensure you – are providing clear safety briefings and practices to protect the animals and clients; you understand animal consent, choice and mutual benefit for participating in certain session plans; you understand the role of animal as change agent; you understand the difference between animal training services and animal assisted services; and much more!
• Develop vital Personal and professional Qualities – Like all health professions, AAP requires ongoing personal and professional development to ensure ethical, genuine and effective practice that is up to date with international best practices. That’s where The Equine & Animal Assisted Psychotherapy Institute has you covered, as our founder, Meg Kirby, is an active member of many international committees focused on leading the way for international standards and competency-focused best practices.
• Practical experience – Work in clinical or farm settings to apply your knowledge with real animals.
• Accreditation – Seek professional recognition to demonstrate your qualifications and commitment.

Important Things to Know

• Clarify your focus – The term “animal assisted therapist” is broad. Make sure you’re clear on whether you want to work in Animal-Assisted Psychotherapy and counselling with people incorporating animals, or whether you want to include animals in your occupational therapy, speech therapy or physiotherapy practice. This will require a different approach to training.
• Animal welfare comes first – The wellbeing of the animals in counselling and psychotherapy is always central. They must be observed with both a scientific rigour and heart-centred presence, and cared for, respecting their integrity and never pushed into becoming a ‘tool’ to help people.
• Know the legal, ethical and professional regulations – You’ll need to meet the standards set by your relevant counselling, psychotherapy and psychological professional and regulatory bodies that mandate that practitioners must be adequately trained and supervised in all specialist approaches or modalities they include in their suite of clinical or counselling services. You would expect a therapist practicing play therapy to be well trained in play therapy, and so on.

A Beautiful, Relational and Meaningful Career

Working as an animal assisted psychotherapist can be life-changing – for both the therapists and the clients and animals involved. The work is deeply rewarding.

If you’re drawn to Animal-Assisted Therapy and want to learn more about training options in Australia, visit the Equine and Animal Assisted Psychotherapy Institute. Their training programs are designed for people who are passionate about bringing together professional counselling and psychotherapy and the healing presence of animals and human-animal interactions and want to do it well.

More about EAAPI

Discover how change happens in partnership with animals of all species, in diverse and wonderful ways. Join an international community of passionate professionals who share a passion for meaningful change work — and a deep love of animals.

If you’re ready to expand your practice, transcend your four walls and help more people in a truly transformative and experiential way!

• Professional development, AASW & ACA aligned
• Online LIVE via zoom Mar-Dec 2026
• Trauma-informed, somatic-focused, and relationally oriented
• Leading education, training and supervision for Australia
• Get the certificate and professional insurance you need to begin your Animal Assisted Psychotherapy practice today.