According to studies, nearly a quarter of teenage girls in America display symptoms of anxiety and depression. Out of all of the antidepressants prescribed to teenagers, two-thirds of them are for girls.
For teen girls suffering from anxiety and depression, The HERD Project has created a fun, healthy and effective alternative therapy that is being introduced in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
The HERD Project offers tools for teen girls to lead happier lives by building self-esteem, positive attitudes, and optimal outcomes through a therapeutic process that combines horse activities with biofeedback. This biofeedback allows each girl to learn her typical responses to life and how these responses affect her internally (stress response) and externally (in her relationship with others).
Each girl has an Intake session so that her personal challenges can be understood. Then Dr. Jill creates individualized activities with the horse, that help the girl to grow to be able to meet those challenges. There are six sessions with the horse and then an Exit session to track progress. If the girl wants to continue with horses after that, these possibilities can be discussed.
The HERD Method
With the guidance of the horse and Dr. Jill Griffin, girls learn to choose behaviors that better serve their inner happiness and outer relationships. Horses are nonjudgmental partners in healing. They act as powerful mirrors guiding teen girls to relate to their own physical and emotional energy. Horses aid us in addressing problems related to depression and anxiety by allowing girls to utilize the power of energy moving through their own bodies related to the energy moving through the body of the horse. The presence and sensitivity of the horse invites girls to engage with it, regardless of their current mood or feeling state.
HeartMath Certified clinician, Dr. Jill Griffin is establishing a new baseline for sustained behavioral change by providing teen girls with tools to ease their journey and influence their future. HeartMath research has demonstrated that different patterns of heart activity (which accompany different emotional states) have distinct effects on cognitive and emotional function. As a certified HeartMath clinician, Dr. Jill Griffin has expanded her practice to include HeartMath biofeedback tools, offering deeper insight into our heart’s ability to self-regulate and influence emotional and psychological experiences. Each girl is loaned a biofeedback tool to take home and practice with throughout her work with Dr. Jill.
The HERD Project Method is a natural treatment for anxiety and depression in teen girls and an alternative (or an adjunct) to pharmacological remedies.