Writings from a Virginia Therapist who loves horses and helping.
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Are EMDR Intensives Worth It? Let’s Talk About It.
By Courtenay Baber, Gray Horse Counseling Let me paint you a picture. You've been in therapy for a while. Maybe a long while. You've got the coping skills. You can name your triggers. You've journaled until your hand cramped, cried until your mascara gave up, and you...
When the Past Shows Up Uninvited: The Long-Term Effects of Trauma on Life Transitions
Life transitions are supposed to feel like turning a new page — fresh start, clean slate, maybe a little confetti. And sometimes they do. But if you've lived through significant trauma, you may have noticed that major life changes have a peculiar way of dragging the...
EMDR Therapy vs. EMDR Intensives: What Is Best for Me?
So you've heard about EMDR. Maybe your therapist mentioned it, maybe you went down a late-night rabbit hole researching trauma treatments, or maybe a friend told you it changed their life. Either way, you're here — curious, maybe a little skeptical, and wondering what...
What a Bad Ride Can Teach You (If You Let It)
If you've been riding for any length of time, you already know this feeling: a great lesson ends and you float out of the barn on a cloud of pure joy. You replay the ride in your head for days. You feel capable, connected, maybe even a little invincible. It's one of...
From the Barn to the Therapy Room: How Horses Found Me First
People ask me all the time: How did you get started with horses? How did you know they could help people heal? And my honest answer is — I didn't choose horses. Horses chose me, quite literally, before I could even walk. Here's the story. I was somewhere around six...
How Horses Sense Anxiety & Can Help Us Overcome It
There's something about standing next to a horse that changes you. Maybe you've felt it—that quiet awareness in their presence, like they're reading something in you that even you haven't fully acknowledged yet. It turns out, they are. Horses have an extraordinary...