Study with us
Now is an amazing time to be exploring this field as a future career!
A qualification in mental health and equine assisted therapy will equip you with a diverse set of skills to offer clients and employers. Our comprehensive, trauma informed and hands-on approach to equine assisted therapy, mental health and horse handling means that you will be qualified to work outside with horses, or in a traditional room-based counselling environment.
You will learn how to safely handle horses and manage a therapeutic equine assisted mental health services environment. You will also learn a lot about yourself!
This integrated approach will enrich both your professional and your personal life.
Our current courses:
Counselling Specialising in Equine Assisted Mental Health, (includes CHC51015)
Register your interest for future short courses and extended accredited courses
qualified EAT, EAL or EAP practitioners,
mental health practitioners.
Equine assisted mental health is an exciting, emerging field and offers potential to both clients and therapists. This therapy is an effective and rewarding way to work with people of all ages, and from all walks of life.
Equine assisted mental health involves the counsellor working with a horse, or a herd of horses, to assist clients in working through their issues and becoming aware of their responses and behaviours. Sessions can provide therapy, support and learning for corporate groups, families, couples, individuals, teens and children.
With equine assisted mental health, no two sessions are the same. Sessions can be very creative and are tailored to the client’s needs, whilst respecting the horse.
Horses are amazing co-therapists. They value relationships and are honest communicators, providing clear feedback. They are also highly perceptive and respond immediately to our body language.
Horses have a highly developed level of awareness and the ability to sense their surroundings. Horses apply this level of perception and awareness in their interactions with people. They respond and give feedback to what is presented, providing a calm, respectful space for us to explore our relationships and ourselves.
Horses are also non- judgemental companions, they accept us and provide a space to just be yourself, a space to relax and feel heard and seen. Horses are great teachers; they naturally embody presence and awareness.
Equine assisted mental health practice is all about people. It takes time to develop and hone the skills required to be a good equine assisted mental health practitioner. Our training is primarily delivered face to face, so you have the opportunity to explore how you relate to others and to ensure that you have time to practice and develop competence and confidence in your skills as a counsellor and an equine assisted mental health practitioner.
Safety is paramount. Over the duration of the course you will be instructed in extensive horse handling and horse co-facilitation. It is essential you feel safe around horses, and are a safe practitioner, so that clients can feel safe and valued in your hands.
Face to face learning, together with hands-on experience in the paddock will provide you with the best possible outcome from your training.
The experiential nature of our course ensures that you have plenty of time to practice and learn so that you are competent and confident upon completion of the course.
We believe that learning should be fun, safe, interesting and exciting and want to challenge our students to get the most out of the course and themselves.
About Equine Assisted Therapy Australia
Our goal is to empower you with practical life skills.
The vision for our training centres stems from our passion to share our knowledge and deliver our students an integrated, trauma informed learning experience.
We take Equine Assisted Mental Health very seriously and believe it takes time and commitment to become a great equine assisted mental health practitioner.
Our courses were born out of the need to provide thorough, trauma informed, high quality training for the equine assisted mental health industry.
Our courses are very hands on and provide a high standard of training to ensure graduates are competent equine assisted mental health practitioners, horse handlers and counsellors. We deeply value the partnership of the horses and prioritise their needs and requirements. We are invested in healthy, transparent relationships with our horses, staff, and students.
EATA training and practice acknowledge and endeavour to address the different aspects of holistic health in both the humans and horses that we work with. This includes physical, emotional, social, spiritual, and mental health and acknowledging the whole world in which we live.
THE 6 PILLARS OF THE EATA MODEL OF TRAINING AND PRACTICE INCLUDE:
Safely incorporating horses into therapeutic practice and interventions so that sessions are mutually beneficial for both horse and human.
Body based self awareness to support health and healing through somatic awareness building exercises and mindfulness practices.
Student Testimonials
Our approach is based on these principles:
Belonging
- A place to be
- Inclusion and equity
- Honouring country and first nations people
Curiosity
- Always learning
- All questions welcome
- Having generous assumptions and being curious
Wellbeing
- Viewing all beings as sentient
- Respecting choice and advocating for the horses and their welfare
- Honouring boundaries and encouraging self-care to support student, staff, and client wellbeing
Trauma Informed Care and Practice
- Asking, ‘What happened to you?” rather than “What’s wrong with you?”
- We follow the guiding principles of trauma informed care: safety, trust, transparency, collaboration, choice, empowerment, and respect for diversity.
Ready to start?
Applying is easy using our simple online application process.
