Healing the Spirit Spirit Lake Recovery by Lauren Pigford There is a place nestled amongst the farm land of west Tennessee where horses are worked from the ground everyday by drug and alcohol addicts. These horses give these men of Spirit Lake Recovery life lessons that, in the addict’s life, are almost impossible to find. Spirit Lake Recovery is located in McKenzie, TN. The drug and alcohol rehabilitation facility has about 65 acres with a 6000 square foot house the clients call home while in therapy, a log cabin surrounded by woods the staff uses as office space and an enclosed arena where the horses live. Spirit Lake’s ultimate goal is to assist individuals with becoming fully connected with the environment on a mental, emotional, spiritual and physical level. While Spirit Lake follows the traditional 12 step model it also utilizes a holistic approach to focus on healing the mind, body and spirit. The Equine Assisted Psychotherapy (EAP) program is what stands Spirit Lake apart from any other drug and alcohol rehabilitation facility in the nation. Other facilities use horses in therapy sessions but according to Ginger Kelley, Director of Marketing, there are no other facilities, which they know of, that have such an extensive EAP program. Ginger and her father, Mike Kelley, Director of Equine Therapy, witness the daily miracles that happen with the clients and the horses. Both are certified through the Equine Assisted Growth and Learning Association (EAGALA). The EAGALA program is structured solely on ground work and ground exercises. When new clients arrive they are assigned to a specific horse. The horse and man are paired together based on personality traits. Most of the men have never had any horse experience before and some have even had very, bad, past experiences. However, Mike, using the skills he has learned through EAGALA and as a lifelong horse trainer, introduces the horses to the men and shows them how to care for the horse and how to work with the horse during EAP sessions. The men get up at 6:00 am everyday to take care of their horses. Daily care includes grooming, cleaning the horse pens, feeding, and leading the horses around in preparation for their daily EAP sessions. The men handle the horses three times a day and work 100 percent from the ground. Soon after the men begin caring for the horses a connection starts to take place. For some people, especially non horse people, it is hard to explain the connection between man and horse, but for these “lost” men, most whom have never been around horses before, feel the bond and relationship forming between them and their new, silent and giant friends. Very soon the men, even the fearful ones start feeling comfortable with their partners. According to Mike, who has been training horses since he was 11 years old, the horses are perfect therapists for the addicts. “Horses are masters at non verbal communication. We let the horses take the lead (in EAP sessions). Horses are 100 percent honest, they can’t lie to you, pass judgment, and people can’t lie to them.” The horses serve as “mirrors” for the clients and as a “bridge of communication.” For the first time for some of these men, and a long time for others they are responsible for something other than themselves. So many emotions begin to evolve with these men. They begin to realize they can be responsible and that builds their confidence. It forces some men to look fear in the face and overcome it. They learn how to approach the flight animals without being aggressive and overbearing. According to Mike, these men’s attitudes change, their posture changes, and their body positioning changes. All of these things help the person to be more comfortable in society and more confident. The men learn how to have a submissive nature like the horses. While Mike watched the group of horses in their natural herd mentality he said, “Submission makes us functional and helps us blend into society and family.” While basic horse keeping helps build the men’s confidence and communication skills the EAP sessions help the men recognize issues in their lives and be able to relate the horses’ natural behavior with their own life situations and experiences. Each session’s tasks are set for the horse and client. They are all asked to relate the exercise to a personal life experience and describe what the exercise represents to them. The exercise can be as simple as leading the horse down a path made by cones with feed buckets on each side. However, to the men that pathway can represent so many things, for example the path in their life, and the feed buckets can represent the temptations they face in life. When the client successfully walks the horse down the path and past the feed bucket, the client feels success and a sense of achievement. All of a sudden the client relates the horse’s temptation with his own, and if the horse can pass up such a huge temptation than so can he. Many people would think that the horses in the EAP program are completely trained and desensitized; however, Mike wants an average horse that is going to react just as a horse would in a herd. According to Ginger addicts are desensitized to dangerous situations and walk around in a “fog.” It is their job to introduce risk management so the men learn to be aware of their surroundings again and be able to recognize what is dangerous and what is not. Spirit Lake has a group of very diverse horses ranging in age from 2- 20. They are all different breeds, and mares and geldings are mixed together. Some of the horses are affected with arthritis; others have scares from past injuries. The men see these quirks and are able to relate to the horses. They even have a donkey who is seen as stubborn, a nuisance and even symbolically as the jackass in the men’s lives. The men quickly realize the horses have character traits and flaws just like people do. One misunderstanding about Equine Assisted Therapies and Psychotherapies is that the horses are able to “heal” people. That the horses somehow have these magical powers that reach into a person’s soul; however, Mike explains what the horses’ roles really do. “Horses don’t heal people; the horses are the tools the people need to heal themselves. The horses teach them to make the choices they need to make in life.” Through working with horses the men learn to overcome low self esteem, fear, temptation and they build confidence, patience, trust, a sense of responsibility and achievement, and understand how to communicate. When the men come to the end of their stay and treatment, Ginger conducts an exit interview. According to Ginger they have had 100% feedback that the most influential therapy at the treatment center is the Equine Psychotherapy. What started out as another pit stop along the addicts’ road of life has turned into a completely different road and path. The things the clients learned from their giant partners have made them realize how to adapted in society, how to blend in with the herd of people. The staff at Spirit Lake work every day to help their clients truly turn over a new leaf and begin their long struggle with addiction. Addiction is a lifelong battle that cannot be cured with a onetime treatment or pill. As Ginger spoke so passionately about Spirit Lake and her job she confessed, “We have all had such a calling on our hearts so we just keep on and on and it’s just about persevering.”