While it is true that a therapist’s value system will influence his or her view of treatment goals, it is also true that the manner in which spiritual issues are handled can dramatically influence outcomes of therapy. At a minimum, the ethical counselor is aware of his or her own beliefs, and makes sure that they don’t harm the client in any way. But, having done this, has the therapist fully discharged duty to client? Some professionals hold the view that the therapist must be prepared to deal with underlying spiritual issues to adequately meet the needs of clients.

Today, more and more practicing therapists fulfill the dual role of counselor and pastoral caregiver. Neither pastoral care nor therapy are new helping roles, but more professionals are acknowledging the role of spirituality and religion in counseling, and are compelled to look for ways to integrate the two more effectively. What we will consider here will not be methods or principles of pastoral care, but rather how pastoral care might be included in Equine Assisted Psychotherapy (EAP).

The pastoral role in healing has been compared to that of the psychiatrist doing psychotherapy. In his book Pastoral Care and the Means of Grace, Ralph L. Underwood characterized the seemingly opposing roles as an interpretive negotiation and dialogue between two perspectives, in which the psychiatrist represents the authority of his field, while the pastor is an official representative of God and organized religion. When religion stands at the center of a client’s world, whether causing benefit or harm, the caring therapist should consider the role a pastoral caregiver could play in client treatment. In institutions and residential treatment facilities, pastoral caregivers have served as an integral part of treatment teams for many years.

Pastoral care as an adjunct to clinical therapy is not new, but it is often unnoticed. It is not unusual for a mental health consultation to be facilitated, supported, and followed up by a pastor. At the very least, the pastor collaborates with the work of other professionals. For the client with a strong faith orientation, the pastor may be an even more constant source of nurturing and growth than the therapist. Most importantly, pastoral care knows no bounds – it is rendered wherever a person is, whatever the conditions. It makes sense that pastoral caregivers seek out ways to become involved in EAP wherever appropriate and feasible.

How can EAP practitioners take the role of pastoral care out of the parish and into the round pens and arenas of horse assisted therapy? Your answers may differ from mine, but that’s OK, as long as our primary concern is for the well being of the souls we touch.

Pastoral care might come at the hands of a horse professional who collaborates with a non religious therapist when the client’s issues involve religion. Involvement by someone skilled in matters of theology and faith practice could be useful for building rapport and engaging such clients in meaningful dialogue. Caregivers might also team up with either therapists or horse professionals who embrace a common world-view in order to treat clients who are ideologically identified with them.

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