ABSTRACT
Ethical standards of practice bring together the ethics of mental health, counselling, and coaching for clients as well as the ethics of partnering with equines into one ethical stream. Evans and Grey (2012) explore animal-assisted therapy with the lens of ecology in social work. Much of youth behavior becomes maladaptive and problematic, with appropriate social skills undeveloped or shut down and communications "trapped" inside. Kolb's Experiential Learning Theory describes one powerful way clients can learn to bring well-being and positive change into their world. Equine-assisted psychotherapy (EAP) grounded in Kolb's Cycle puts faith in the client's ability to garner the inner resources to learn and change during the facilitated experience, and to discover, embrace, and apply them outside the arena. This is the purpose of the Path of Life. Brown, Ryan, and Creswell (2007) set the theoretical stage for mindfulness in EAP: as a receptive attention to and awareness of present events and experience.
