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Looking for Equine-Assisted Counselling in Victoria, BC, Brentwood Bay, Saanich, Sidney, Langford & Southern Vancouver Island?

🐴 Are you drawn to horses and curious about how their sensitivity to emotion and energy can support healing and self-awareness?

 

🐴 Are you seeking a calm, outdoor, experiential approach where you can work with horses to explore stress, trauma, anxiety, or emotional patterns in real time?

 

🐴 Are you interested in building grounding, confidence, emotional regulation, and relational awareness through guided interaction with horses—without needing any riding experience?

Equine-assisted counselling is an experiential, trauma-informed approach to mental health that integrates guided interaction with horses to support emotional healing and personal growth.

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As an Equusoma® Level 1 student practitioner, my work is informed by the Equusoma® model of equine-facilitated psychotherapy, an attachment-based and somatic therapy approach that focuses on nervous system regulation, body awareness, relational patterns, and emotional processing through horse-assisted experiential work.

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Horses are highly sensitive to nonverbal communication and emotional states, making them effective partners in therapy. Their feedback can support increased self-awareness, grounding, emotional regulation, confidence, and relational insight. Equine-assisted counselling may support individuals experiencing anxiety, trauma, stress, burnout, grief, and relationship challenges in a calm outdoor setting that differs from traditional talk therapy.

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Equine-assisted psychotherapy and counselling services available starting August 2026 in Victoria, BC, including Brentwood Bay, Saanich, Sidney, Langford, Central Saanich, North Saanich, and surrounding communities across Southern Vancouver Island.

FAQs

What is Equine-Assisted Counselling?

Equine-assisted counselling is a trauma-informed, experiential therapy where I guide clients through interactions with horses to support emotional awareness, nervous system regulation, and relational healing. As an Equusoma® Level 1 student practitioner, my work is informed by a somatic and attachment-based approach that uses the horse-human relationship, and horse-human trauma recovery, to support grounding, safety, and emotional integration.

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How does equine-assisted counselling support my nervous system?

Horses, being herd animals, are highly attuned to nonverbal cues and physiological shifts in stress and emotion. Their responses can help me support you in noticing when your nervous system is in states of activation, shutdown, or regulation. Through grounded, supported interaction with horses, I help you build capacity for co-regulation, self-regulation, and returning to a calmer, more connected state.

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What kinds of concerns can this help with?

I offer equine-assisted counselling for individuals experiencing anxiety, trauma, chronic stress, burnout, grief, emotional dysregulation, and relationship challenges. This approach can be especially supportive if you are looking for a body-based, experiential therapy rather than traditional talk therapy alone.

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What happens in a session?

Sessions take place outdoors and may include mindfulness, observation, grounding exercises, and structured experiential work with horses. I do not require any riding experience. The focus is on the horse-human relationship as a way to explore emotional patterns, nervous system responses, and relational dynamics in real time.

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Do I need horse experience?

No horse experience is needed. I guide you step by step, and all interactions are designed to be safe, accessible, and supported.

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Is this like riding therapy?

No. I do not offer riding instruction. The work is grounded in relationship, observation, and safe, on-the-ground interaction with horses.

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Where are sessions located?

I offer equine-assisted counselling starting August 2026 in Victoria, BC, including Brentwood Bay, Saanich, Sidney, Langford, and surrounding Southern Vancouver Island communities. Located at Horse Wisdom Farm in Brentwood Bay.

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"… and God took a handful of Southerly wind, blew his breath over it, and created the horse.”

- Bedouin Legend

"To blessed animals the utmost kindness must be shown, the more the better."

-Baha'i Writings

hello@nightingalepsychotherapy.ca

©2026 by Ania Telfer

Psychotherapy, counselling, and art therapy services for veterans, children, adolescents, adults, couples, and families, offered by Ania Telfer, M.C., Canadian Certified Counsellor (CCC). My practice integrates trauma-informed, somatic, equine assisted therapy, Equusoma, mindfulness-based, expressive arts, art therapy, and arts-based approaches to support anxiety, trauma recovery, life transitions, emotional wellbeing, and personal growth.

Until the end of July, I offer in-person counselling and art therapy services in Edmonton, Alberta, serving clients from Edmonton, St. Albert, Sherwood Park, Beaumont, Leduc, Morinville, Spruce Grove, and Stony Plain. Beginning in August, I will offer in-person services in Victoria, British Columbia, including Saanich, Langford, Brentwood Bay, Sidney, Central Saanich, North Saanich, Colwood, Esquimalt, Oak Bay, View Royal, and the Greater Victoria region.

Secure online counselling and art therapy are available for clients throughout Canada.

Nightingale Psychotherapy respectfully acknowledges that, until the end of July, services are provided on Treaty 6 Territory and the homeland of the Métis Nation of Alberta. These are the ancestral and traditional lands of the Cree, Dene, Blackfoot, Saulteaux, Nakota Sioux, and Métis peoples. I honour the many First Nations, Métis, and Inuit peoples whose relationships with these lands span countless generations and continue today.

Beginning in August, services will also be provided on the traditional territories of the lək̓ʷəŋən (Songhees and Esquimalt) Peoples and the W̱SÁNEĆ Peoples on southern Vancouver Island.

I am grateful to the Elders, Knowledge Keepers, and community members who have cared for these lands across generations, those who are with us today, those who have gone before us, and those yet to come.

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