Our Services
Flying Changes of Virginia offers Equine-Assisted Psychotherapy, Equine-Assisted Learning, and Organizational Development. We also provide customizable programs for private groups and exclusive or public sessions.
Equine Assisted Psychotherapy
A therapeutic experience designed for individuals, families, and groups (ages 10+), EAP uses guided horse interactions to support emotional healing and personal growth. Led by a licensed mental health professional and an equine specialist, these sessions help clients navigate trauma, anxiety, depression, addiction, and behavioral challenges in a nontraditional setting.
Equine Assisted Learning
A hands-on, unmounted program where individuals and groups build confidence, communication, and social skills through guided horse interactions. Designed for youth (10+) and adults, EAL fosters teamwork, leadership, and personal development in a supportive environment.
Organizational Development
A dynamic approach to professional growth and team building, organizational development with equines helps groups strengthen leadership, communication, and collaboration through experiential learning with horses. Sessions range from two-hour workshops to full-day retreats, with customized programs tailored to meet team goals and workplace challenges.
Equine Assisted Psychotherapy
· Individual, family and group Equine Assisted Psychotherapy Services: Office therapy at the barn
Equine Assisted Psychotherapy, EAP, is the collaboration of a credentialed mental health professional and equine specialist while providing a therapeutic unmounted equine activity. The activity is created and guided by both the equine and mental health professional to support the therapeutic goals and needs of individuals, families or therapeutic groups. Equine Assisted Psychotherapy often utilizes metaphors and draws parallels to real-life experiences, while allowing clients experiential opportunities to practice new skills. The mental health professional will support the emotional safety and therapeutic goals while the equine specialist will ensure safety and give voice to the equine experience while also contributing to the overall EAP experience.
EAP is most beneficial to individuals age 10 and older. Individual sessions last one hour with family and group session durations varying depending on group dynamics. Sessions should occur weekly with a minimum of 8 sessions to reach and sustain goal progress. Individuals participating in EAP must participated in an Equine Assisted Activities and Therapies (EAAT) assessment to ensure they are well suited for EAP.
EAP is well suited for individuals with a variety of mental health needs and diagnoses including but not limited to reactive attachment disorder, trauma, anxiety, depression, addiction, behavioral and personality disorders.
· EAP Programs - Programs are typically created as therapeutic groups with unique topics and audience or demographic groups. These programs can have varying time and length based upon the goals and needs of the participants. Potential EAP program topics could include substance use, domestic violence, bullying prevention and parenting as examples.
Equine Assisted Learning
· Individual and group equine assisted learning: Life skills with four-legged teachers
Equine Assisted Learning, EAL, is typically provided with a qualified equine specialist and other additional staff as needed. The activities for these sessions are created and led by the equine specialist with intent to plant seeds and opportunities for personally driven exploration. Sessions will provide highly engaging experiential unmounted activities with horses. Equine assisted learning sessions are most beneficial to clients that have already experienced EAP. During EAL, clients will be supported in challenging themselves and connecting relevant horse interactions to parallels in their own lives. Theses sessions do not involve a mental health professional and therefore do not delve into clinical mental health needs. EAL instead relies on the insight and self-awareness of participants to expand the equine experience and metaphors to connect to their own lives and parallel process.
Individual and group EAL is best experienced by youth ages 10 and older with one-hour sessions, typically lasting for 6 sessions. Prior to engaging in EAL, a client will need to participated in an Equine Assisted Activities and Therapies (EAAT) Assessment to ensure they are suitable for EAL if they have not already participated in EAP with Flying Changes.
While everyone can benefit from interactions with horses, Individuals working on confidence, communication, and social skills including relationship building, such as reading and responding to cues, empathy and cooperation benefit greatly.
· EAL Programs - These programs are typically created for customized needs and groups. These programs vary based on the needs and goals of the group with some examples being assertiveness, cooperation, and leadership.
Organizational Development
· Customized professional developmental & teambuilding: Comfort zone challenges and “aha!” leadership moments.
Organizational Development with equine activities can serve small organizations and groups to larger corporations. Through interactions with professional peers during equine experiences, individuals and groups can address specified needs or follow the parallels and metaphors that are presented in the moment.
Groups can address goals such as leadership, team development, communication, respect, boundaries, delegation and relationship building or repair to name only a few. The equine experiences can be customized following a planning meeting to address current issues or needs in your professional realm or can be open teambuilding experiences to promote relationship building within your group.
Equine assisted organizational development activities last a minimum of 2 hours and can expand to cover a full day, including catered meals and potentially combined alternate creative activities, such as collaborative art, skill building presentations and other experiential group activities.
School groups, civic organizations, professional groups, universities or corporations are well served by these experiences. However, we can assist any group in clearly linking their experience with our horses to the challenges and opportunities faced everyday life, professional, personal or the combination. Our facilitators will help you build the skills and behaviors needed to support you in an enjoyable day, while also refocusing your lens on what matters.
We’d love to hear from you!