Re: Play Therapy/EAP

[Guest guest]

I found our daughter's Play Therapist by searching online insurance and

medical professional " finders " and looking for the specialty I wanted. Then

I made phone calls to a few who were located not too far from us and looked

the most promising. I asked questions, and asked the top two for " get to

know you " visits. You could search for " Child therapy " , " Adolescent

Therapy " , and " Play Therapy " , and check that the practioner is Licensed or

Accredited.

For the EAP, I'll try to send a link to EAGALA - an organization which

offers training and accreditation for therapists in the [very specific]

process of using horses to assist in therapy. EAGALA are trying to get a

searchable database up and running, but it's not ready yet. For now you can do

it

the old fashioned way - put in a search for EAP/Equine Assisted

Psychotherapy and your state to see if a therapist or location is listed near

you. I

tried it for Arizona, and came up with a number of listings. Maybe one is

near enough to you. Here is the link to EAGALA for info - they have links

to a number of articles and videos [one on Dr. Oz's show] that explain

what EAP is and little bit on how it's done. _Welcome | EAGALA Primary Site_

(http://eagala.org/)

Sandi [TX]

In a message dated 7/12/2010 2:40:11 P.M. Central Daylight Time,

marie.adams@... writes:

Sandi, where did you find the play therapist & EAP? my daughter is 18 &

not

too much of an animal person, but I'm intrigued about minimal verbal

counseling & helping her deal with her emotions. Her emotional reactions

can be exaggerated & it might be helpful for her to have someone

knowledgeable work with her on that as a " fun " kind of thing to do rather

than hab therapy type stuff that she's had all these years.

Marie (AZ)

On Sun, Jul 11, 2010 at 5:56 AM, <_D22@..._

(mailto:D22@...) > wrote:

>

> Hi All,

>

> We were having concerns regarding overwhelming dark emotions and fears

> from our daughter from the time she was around 9. Her doctor recommended

> that

> we find a good female therapist and help our daughter build a

relationship

> with her. He said later it would only get more difficult as she tried to

> deal with hormones and teen mean-ness, and it would help our daughter to

> have a professional who would understand how miserable it can feel to be

a

> teenage girl, and who could teach her how to process her feelings in safe

> and

> acceptable ways, and generally teach her coping skills for her

> adolescence.

>

> We found a terrific child and adolescent therapist who used play therapy

> to help understand what our daughter was feeling, even when she didn't

> have

> the words to communicate what was wrong. Our daughter just loved therapy,

> and got a lot of good from it.

>

> The therapist also eventually got her involved in EAP [equine assisted

> psychotherapy]. This is not riding, it is learning to work through your

> emotions with the help of a therapist in the company of horses. Both the

> play

> therapy and the EAP were so helpful, and made a huge difference in

helping

> our daughter reach a level of comfort with her life.

>

> Sandi