The EAGALA Team

 

The Horse:  Horses have many characteristics which lend them to being effective agents of change, including honesty, awareness, and ability with nonverbal communication.  The role of the horses in an EAGALA session is to be themselves.

 

The Equine Specialist (ES):  The ES chooses the horses to be used in sessions, works with the MH to structure sessions, keeps an equine log to document horse behaviors in sessions, stays aware of safety and welfare of clients, horses, and team, and makes observations of horse SPUD’s (an EAGALA-developed observation framework taught in the certification training program) which can bring in potential metaphors.

 

The Mental Health Professional (MH):  The MH is responsible for treatment planning, documentation of clients, and ensuring ethical practice.  The MH builds on the ES’s horse observations, bringing in the metaphoric and therapeutic/learning relevance of the session.