Addiction Treatment with Animal Assisted Therapy
Riding horses has saved my life. It has been so vital to my recovery in so many different ways that are unexplainable in words. If I could give what I’ve gotten from horseback riding to everyone in the program, nobody would relapse or go back out. My journey in recovery has not been the smoothest, but being able to connect with such an intelligently present animal has possibly saved me. Even when using, riding has been incredibly vital in the sense that at least I could not be using at the same time as riding my horses. It’s unexplainably important to be able to have an outlet that positively releases tension in early recovery. If one can be lucky enough to remain interested or invested in the same outlet throughout long term recovery then they are already a step ahead of other recovering addicts without an outlet. Having an outlet concerning animals or care for others in general allows one to get out of their grown mind and get into something or someone else’s. Animals become our lifelong friends especially when they’ve been present with us since the beginning of our rebirth in recovery. Being able to care for another and look after their well-being also allows us to learn to take better care of our own selves and relearn to love and respect ourselves in positive, rational ways. Taking care of another is a big responsibility and we cannot possibly care for others without caring for ourselves. The more we learn to take care of others, the more we learn to care for ourselves. When we can finally learn the proper care for ourselves, the care for others grows as well. Our caring for others and ourselves goes hand in hand and our growing eventually manifests and reaches other members in the program. This is a wonderful way to learn to live as we learn to live by example and others tend to follow our lead.
Horses are immaculately talented at teaching us how to grow and care for ourselves, as well as free us from our minds for the period of time that we are around them. At least, this is what they do for me. They are such simple animals that require a complex bundle of care. We can focus our energy to this and release tension in positive ways rather than negative. From riding horses to equine assisted therapy, one can learn to care-take properly for a horse and eventually learn to take care of them ourselves. We can all find this outlet however, whether it be with other animals, other people, more specific ways of growing for ourselves by way of sports or physical training, etc. The more active things we do, the more we are able to be freed from our own heads and be able to channel our thoughts onto more positive ways of living. Many animals are able to help us with this, such as our domestic pets all the way up to wild animals. People learn to care for themselves by caring for a wide range of species, which literally means any kind of animal will help us be freed at least just for that moment. It is so vital to find an animal that we can connect with, take it from personal experience from an addict myself – animals unlock a part of our brains we could not do for ourselves. We find peace in this and are able to exhale for a minute and give ourselves a break.
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