State grant boosts substance-abuse therapy using horses at Cook center

Cook Township-based Southern Tier Alternative Therapies (STAT) is stepping up the nonprofit’s work using horses to help people struggling with substance abuse, thanks to a $100,000 grant from the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency.

The grant should help cover the costs of 30 or more two-hour sessions, in which groups of up to a dozen clients trying to overcome substance abuse interact with horses at STAT’s Ligonier Therapeutic Center, according to center founder Catherine Markosky. The state funding will reimburse the center for clients who lack insurance coverage or other means to pay for the therapy, or who are court-ordered to complete the therapy.

According to Markosky, the clients STAT serves through the grant will be tested before and after sessions with horses to gauge the therapy’s impact on “emotional intelligence.”

People struggling with addiction “tend to have poor skills in empathy, communication and interpersonal skills,” she explained.

During the non-riding therapy, clients interact with the center’s horses under the guidance of mental health providers and equine specialists.

“Horses play a very important role in addiction treatment,” Markosky said. “Horses have a heightened sensitivity to changes in a human’s emotional and mental state. Our treatment team studies horse movements and behavioral reactions during a session to help us understand what each client needs in order to achieve personal goals, recovery and healing.”

As part of the therapy, clients may walk horses in the center’s enclosed arena or in an adjoining field, Markosky said.

Clients usually “like to be out in the open air,” she said. “A lot more happens when you’re out there than in an enclosed area. They talk more and they express themselves better.”

Most of the clients in the program are undergoing treatment at a recovery facility, such as Dreamlife Recovery in Donegal. Dreamlife Director Dr. Gina L. Marchando said equine-assisted psychotherapy “increases significant concepts such as spiritual connectedness, boundaries, social skills, perspective, trust, communication,” while it also “enhances self-confidence, builds self-efficacy and acceptance. It increases impulse control, too, all skills that actually contribute to developing a sustainable and meaningful recovery.”

As part of the state grant, the University of Pittsburgh’s Program Evaluation and Research Unit will provide technical assistance with data collection and analysis.

Markosky said revenue generated through the program will be used to help support other equine-based therapy STAT offers for people with special needs and for veterans who are coping with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

For more information about STAT, visit statinc.org or call 724-593-4742.