Horses help veterans deal with PTSD
Posted Mar 11, 2013 2:17 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The creators of a program utilizing horses to help military veterans with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder are attempting to get federal backing for the method.
Veteran Steve Critchley and a psychologist, Dr. Jim Marland, are donating their time, facilities and horses for the pilot project, happening this week in Rocky Mountain House, to try to spur interest.
Whether it be with veterans or children with disabilities, Critchley says, it’s been proven that horses are great resource for improving communication skills.
“If a horse doesn’t trust you, it’s going to hang around. Individuals facing the challenges of PTSD may not be aware of how their body language, their tone, their inflection, how they communicate may actually be causing challenges for anyone they’re working with. A horse will pick up on that rather easily,” says Critchley.
The first sessions of the program, called Can Praxis, are underway with support from Wounded Warriors Canada but Critchley says they will still need more funding to be able to keep it going.
He says they are hoping to drum up support from corporations and from Veterans Affairs.
More details at www.facebook.com/canpraxis
