When you go into rehab treatment for addiction and mental health disorders, you gain exposure to a wide range of addiction therapies and treatment methods. These include an experiential therapy program, a type of group therapy involving active pursuits, creativity, teamwork, or self-expression. Although one therapy alone cannot help you build lasting recovery, these methods help you reach your recovery goals as part of a mix of approaches.
If you are interested in an experiential therapy program in Jacksonville, FL, reach out to our Lakeview Health team today. Our wide range of therapy programs means that we can provide the highest quality of individualized care for each person we treat.
Contact our friendly and knowledgeable team today by calling 904.531.3505 or completing our convenient online form. Our experiential therapy program may be the key to long-lasting recovery and peace of mind.
An experiential therapy program is an adjunct treatment, meaning it supplements other evidence-based therapies and holistic therapy programs. In addition, techniques used in experiential therapy help you build self-confidence, communication, teamwork, self-control, and interpersonal skills. From your accomplishments, you build self-esteem while participating in activities that can become some of your favorite means of relapse prevention.
For your program, you will participate in activities that help you experience feelings like those of real-life scenarios. By confronting these momentary issues, you improve in how you cope with life stress. Also, at the same time, your therapist sees you in actual moments like those that led to your substance abuse or for which you used substances to cope. In many ways, an experiential therapy program breaks down the walls of the experience and takes your therapist as an observer in your life events.
Most experiential therapy program work involves at least one other person, animal, or group therapy setting. Your therapist sees how you interact with others, and those interactions reflect your daily experience like a mirror into your life outside of rehab. Using their observations, your therapist develops a plan of action to help you overcome the hurdles you face in your experiential therapy program in Jacksonville, FL.
Some of the most common experiential therapy approaches include animal or equine-assisted therapy, adventure therapy, psychodrama, and art therapy. Your therapist adapts methods to the event or activity employed. Each therapy session has specific goals, with the activity followed by conversations between peers and the therapist to reflect on the session events.
Each type of experiential therapy offers its own benefits. Your group therapist will work with you to choose activities based on specific goals. Some of the most popular forms of experiential therapy programs are equine therapy, art therapy, and music therapy.
One of the most popular forms of experiential therapy is equine therapy. In general, animals offer emotional support. This is why therapists use animals in some types of group programs. Horses are no exception to providing emotional support and can help you work through your difficult past trauma, as well as the aftermath of your addiction.
Equine-assisted therapy incorporates horses into group sessions, proven effective over multiple decades. In these sessions, you observe how the horse responds to your emotions, thoughts, and behaviors. For example, you may engage individually with the animal in an arena to reach specific goals. Or this therapy can involve riding, animal care, and other activities around horses.
An art therapy session is led by a licensed therapist who chooses the medium to be used. Any type of art can be used for therapeutic purposes, but the most popular options are painting and drawing. You don’t have to have any experience or special talent creating art. Instead, the main goal of art therapy is more about letting people focus on their experience as they create the piece of art. Also, art therapy allows people to better identify and explore their emotions and thoughts which may be difficult at times to put into words. Plus, many people find that this form of therapy is enjoyable and really learn a lot about themselves.
Call Lakeview Health at 904.531.3505 today to learn more about these programs and services, including an experiential therapy program. Make today the day that you begin your recovery journey. Reach out to our Lakeview Health team now.
Taking the first step towards recovery can be daunting, but knowing your options for care is paramount to your success. Fill out the form below and one of our team members will reach out to help you get started.