Equine-Assisted Therapy
Equine-assisted therapy offers an experiential and relational approach to healing through presence, attunement, and connection with the natural world. Horses are highly sensitive beings whose nervous systems respond authentically to emotional and energetic cues, often reflecting what is happening beneath the surface. Their responsiveness invites greater awareness, regulation, and insight without judgment.
Sessions focus on grounded interaction rather than riding, supporting nervous system regulation, boundary awareness, emotional attunement, and embodied self-trust. This approach can be especially supportive for trauma healing, anxiety, attachment patterns, and stress, as it engages the body directly and gently invites clients into the present moment.
Training & Philosophy
My equine-assisted work is informed by specialized trainings, ongoing experiential learning, and a deep respect for horses as sentient partners in the healing process. I approach this work through a trauma-informed, consent-based, and relational lens that honors both clinical integrity and spiritual depth. I view healing as a process of reconnection, to the body, to instinct, to the land, and to a deeper sense of self.
In this work, the nervous system is understood as sacred intelligence, and the presence of the horses offers a grounded, regulating force that supports safety, trust, and integration. I hold equine-assisted therapy as a spiritual and therapeutic collaboration between human, animal, and land, one that invites deep listening, humility, and reverence for the healing wisdom that emerges through relationship.
This work is offered in a welcoming, affirming space for people of all identities, backgrounds, and lived experiences.
Providers
Alissa
Licensed Therapist
I am a Licensed Clinical Social Worker in Washington with over eight years of experience supporting children, adolescents, and adults. My work is rooted in a deeply person-centered, trauma-informed, and soul-honoring approach that recognizes each individual as more than their symptoms. I hold therapy as a sacred space where personal history, cultural lineage, and inherited patterns can be gently explored and transformed. Beyond formal education and licensure, my practice has been shaped through years of immersive trainings, workshops, and experiential learning. My ongoing participation in learning reflects a devotion to personal growth as a practitioner and to meeting clients from a place of humility, presence, and lived, embodied understanding. I view learning as a living process and bring what I have studied, practiced, and integrated within myself directly into my work with clients.
My approach weaves evidence-based therapy with a holistic understanding of the mind–body–spirit connection. I view the nervous system as a form of sacred intelligence, one that has learned, adapted, and protected across a lifetime and, in many cases, across generations. Rather than overriding these patterns, we listen to the body’s language with curiosity and compassion, allowing safety, regulation, and trust to be restored from the inside out.
I work with clients of all identities and backgrounds and offer an LGBTQIA+ affirming, inclusive therapeutic space where sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, and relationship structure are respected and honored. I take time to understand the full arc of a person’s life, from early experiences through the present, while honoring the influence of culture, identity, ancestry, and lived experience on emotional and spiritual well-being.