Animal therapy in Connecticut
First, your young child is not as bubbly or outgoing as he or she used to be. And, you are looking for something out-of-the-box and alternative to traditional talk counseling. Further, animal therapy in Connecticut at Wisdom Within Counseling is positive! To note, animal therapy in Connecticut helps an anxious child feel socially confident. Because being around animal is naturally calming, then being around people becomes less upsetting too. Moreover, when looking for animal therapy in Connecticut, Wisdom Within Counseling includes many different animals.
Child Therapy and Teen Therapy: Animal therapy in Connecticut
For instance, one animal therapy group in Niantic, Connecticut included a ferret and guinea pig. Another animal therapy group included geese, chickens, frogs, and baby goats. On another note, another animal therapy group in Niantic, Connecticut was with an owl, frog, turtle, snake, and rabbit! Overall, animals in counseling support self-care because animals mirror human emotions.
To begin, click the button below for your phone consult to talk about animal therapy for you and your family.
Plus, animals provide direct feedback in social and emotional situations. In addition, child therapy and teen therapy run alongside animal therapy groups. Notably, animal therapy in Connecticut is hard to find. At Wisdom Within Counseling in Niantic, animal therapy groups are an offering that are a great supplement to weekly child therapy or teen counseling.
Fun Fact About Your Niantic Therapy Journey
Also, with permission from the owner of Wisdom Within Counseling in Niantic, some pets such as guinea pigs, are allowed to join in on a child’s or teen’s session for emotional support. Periodically, we run animal therapy groups for families, which are great for peer anxiety. Niantic animal therapies teach self-confidence, and self-esteem when socializing. And, in your session on a weekly basis, having your pet can make all the difference in feeling safe and opening up.
Join For Next Animal-Assisted Therapy Group!
And, animal therapy is an evidence-based experiential therapy that changes traditional group counseling into an interactive, safe place. Further, animal therapy invites a movement-based, hands-on process where children socialize. To add, when offering animal therapy in Connecticut to adolescents, we find they naturally socialize better around animals. And, from social skills gained in animal therapy in Connecticut, teenagers connect better peer to peer.
To begin, click the button below for your phone consult to talk about animal therapy for you and your family.
Fun, hands-on animal therapy groups in East Lyme, Connecticut
Additionally, we keep these animal therapy and adventure, hike therapy groups small. Further, this is so children and teens feel safe and supported by the other members. Now, the animal therapy groups in Connecticut provide a space. In conclusion, animal therapy groups in Connecticut are also meant to challenge your child or teen and help them grow, thus developing social-emotional learning skills.
Benefits of Being in an Animal Therapy Group
Also, rather than being treated as a problem child or someone who needs to be fixed, the Niantic, Connecticut animal therapy groups for adolescents, help boost self-confidence. Plus, animal therapy groups for adolescents promote healthy self esteem. To note, the groups also help with self acceptance, emotional regulation, and positive coping skills. In their own words, parents have shared how their child/adolescent feels like they belong in the world.
Does Your Child/Adolescent Need Social-Emotional Skills?
Now, parents also share how they enjoy that their child is being engaged and stimulated. And, after animal therapy in Connecticut, children expressed themselves in new ways. Also, s a positive part of the counseling process and animal therapy groups, children and teenagers learn to care. In therapy, we process conflicts that occurred in group. Likewise, animal therapy in Connecticut teach conflict resolution skills and assertiveness skills. Further, children and adolescents learn to use, “I feel,” feedback with other group members.
What happens in group therapy?
As an extension and to supplement the goals stated in individual and family therapy, on Sunday, May 27th 2018, adolescents joined for the Goat Animal Therapy Group in East Lyme, CT. The goats facilitated attachment, trust, bonding, social skills with other group members, and help clients build emotional regulation. Additionally, the group members learned how to take care of goats and how goats take care of each other.
Fun Facts: Goats and Emotional Regulation
Further, the children in the group learned that goats need at least one best friend in life. And, similarly to humans, they need a buddy. Next, ZeZe, one of the goats, was pregnant and due at the end of June 2018. The other goat in the animal therapy group, Ronan, was one year old. And, just like humans have a favorite snack, Ronan, the goat, does too. Now, Ronan was loving being fed raisins and marshmallows!
Would you like to know a fun fact about goat eyes?
In fact, goats have rectangular pupils, so they can see predators. Further, clients loved the dramatized, “baah!” and laughed a lot! In conclusion, in the animal therapy in Connecticut, we talked about what sounds humans make when they are anxious. Perhaps, you bite your nails when you are anxious. If you are looking for anxiety counseling in Niantic, Connecticut, click, here. And, we discussed what sounds and signals mean a goat is scared, happy, and so on. Also, a big thank you to Missy Miko! Lastly, animal therapy in Connecticut helps to bring out the best in your little one. From animal therapy in Connecticut, your child’s or teen’s confidence can increase.
What Is Equine Therapy?
We also offer animal therapy in addition to goats, chickens, and a number of other animals. Equine therapy, with horses, involves activities (such as grooming, feeding, haltering and leading a horse) that are supervised by Wisdom Within Counseling, often with the support of a horse.
To begin, click the button below for your phone consult to talk about animal therapy for you and your family.
Animal Therapy Groups in Niantic, CT
Equine Therapy is also called Horse Therapy, Equine-Assisted Therapy, and Equine-Assisted Psychotherapy, which is a form of experiential therapy similar to yoga, art, and movement therapy, that involves interactions between you or your teen and the horses. Likewise, we have run group for adolescents, teens, and young adults at High Hopes in Old Lyme, Connecticut and at other neighboring animal farms. We offer quarterly groups with different types of animals to keep up a great variety and to build social learning skills.
Let’s talk about animal therapy for you and your family.
In my family therapy practice, use highly effective, skill-based therapies to help your child, adolescent, or teen function better in school, at home, and into college years and beyond.
Read more about each of these below.
Research For Your Reading
Read this wonderful, in-depth research paper by my sister, Becky Ziskind, backing up and highlighting the benefits of Animal Assisted Therapy with science.
The Adolescent Group Members
Identify how animals feel and express their emotions.
Observe emotional-behavior patterns and process thoughts and emotions
Encourage the development of needed skills and attributes, such as accountability, leadership, listening, responsibility, self-awareness, compassion, empathy, self-confidence, problem-solving skills, and self-control.
What are the Benefits of Animal Therapy?
Numerous research studies have indicated that animal therapy has been successful in helping people excel in the following areas:
- Assertiveness
- Emotional awareness
- Empathy
- Stress tolerance
- Flexibility
- Impulse control
- Problem-solving skills
- Self-actualization
- Independence
- Self-regard
- Social responsibility
- Interpersonal relationships
Did You Know?
Horses and other animals are typically non-judgmental, have no preconceived expectations or motives, and are highly effective at mirroring attitudes, showing care, and facilitating positive change in behaviors of the humans with whom they are working.
What Conditions/Disorders Does Equine Therapy Treat?
Additionally, equine therapy has been successfully woven into various other therapeutic practices such as with people with PTSD. At Wisdom Within Counseling, adolescents, young adults, and teenagers, participate in equine therapy when also working on one or more of the following: substance abuse, addiction, behavior disorders, mood disorders, anxiety, school refusal, peer issues, divorcing parents, depression, juvenile court/legal issues, eating disorders, learning differences, ADD/ADHD, autism, grief/loss, trauma, addiction, gambling, bipolar, depression and related conditions.
