Yellowstone Boys and Girls Ranch
Billings, Montana

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EAGALA Therapy at YBGR: Reaching Children Through Horses

How do horses help children? "They reflect the youth by mirroring back what is going on in their life," says Ashli Carlson, Yellowstone Boys and Girls Ranch's certified EAGALA specialist. "Horses can offer an experiential type of therapy that focuses on relating."

Located in Billings, Montana, Yellowstone has been providing residential treatment and academic services to youth with emotional and behavioral challenges between the ages of 10 - 18 years since 1957. Yellowstone has always offered opportunities for recreational riding, which has included horse therapy at times. Today, we are happy to announce that we are able to provide internationally recognized EAGALA horse therapy sessions.

The Equine Therapy program is based on the EAGALA (Equine Assisted Growth and Learning Association) model, which focuses on a team approach where each session is composed of a horse, certified equine specialist, and a mental health professional who works with a child for over an hour at a time. Equine therapy offers a hands-on approach which engages the client both mentally and physically, contrary to traditional therapy sessions.

"It is the youth's experience. The EAGALA Professionals don't tell them what it is that they should be learning. Therefore, there is no disassociation, making it a very effective form of therapy." Ashli explains. Yellowstone is one of few residential treatment centers for SED children that has an EAGALA Certified Specialist on staff in the Western United States.

Yellowstone Boys and Girls Ranch is a fully licensed and accredited psychiatric residential treatment center, located on a 400 plus acre campus, serving boys ages 10 - 18 and girls ages 12 - 15 who have depression, anxiety, trauma, autism, ADHD, and bipolar disorder. Behaviors may include running away, drug use, self-harm, and defiance.