Islamabad:Philanthropist and social worker, Aamer A. Sarfraz established the first ‘Therapeutic Horsemanship Program’ in Pakistan through Equine-Assisted Activities and Therapy (EAAT) designed to serve special children in order enhance the quality and productivity of their lives, says a press release.
Under this program “We have started ‘Equine-Assisted Activities and Therapy (EAAT), which provides horsemanship experience to the special children for incorporating a range of treatments that involve activities with horses to promote human physical and mental health, Philanthropist and social worker, Aamer A. Sarfaraz told APP here on Monday.
“We are spending millions on this expensive procedure to provide facilities for special children, “he said He said the goal is to help these children in social, emotional, cognitive, or behavioral ways.
The majority of children participating in ‘Equine Therapy’ are between the ages of 3 to 20 years old and unfortunately, there are not many extra-curricular facilities or activities in Pakistan for special children, he said.
EAAT was introduced by him in Pakistan for children with special needs and It’s the only this kind of program in Pakistan offering free of cost sessions to the children with special needs from different region especially the people ,who cannot afford this expensive procedure.
Aamer Sarfraz informed that modern use of horses for mental health treatment dates to the 1990s, including those with physical, cognitive and emotional issues.
He said that therapeutic horseback riding uses a therapeutic team, usually including a certified therapeutic riding instructor, two or more volunteers, and a horse, to help an individual ride a horse and work with it on the ground.
He said that equine therapy is an outdoor complete package activity, offering an opportunity to children using all senses while learning and processing through emotional challenges.He said that equine therapy provides children a therapeutic environment that can feel less threatening and more playful than a traditional therapy centers.
Replying to a question, he said, “We trained our specialised team for this program had trained from British Equine specialist, who hired for the training of local trainer to continue this program in Pakistan.”
This programme has involved trained team including horse expert, two side-walkers, three Equine-assisted therapy instructors and a Clinical Psychologist, he added.While on the occasion, Clinical Psychologist of EAAT Programme, Iqra Ehsan informed that through this valuable program our specialized team helps children to build up their self-esteem, self-efficacy and resilience power through Equine therapy.
During the two sessions in week, our team assessed the needs of every child and set goals according to their needs, she said.The program is called the Sunrise Therapeutic Horsemanship Program (STHP) and has been established in Chak Shahzad, within the Islamabad capital territory.
Iqra Ehsan, all the therapy session and classes are offered daily, free of charge for children from all over the country.Foreign trained, special trainer of the EAAT, programme Junaid Tariq said that this program has involved trained team including horse expert, two side-walkers, three Equine-assisted therapy instructors and a Clinical Psychologist.
“We are helping many children to improve their lifestyle, behavioral, cognitive, physical and psycho-social problems.Ahmad Saeed 14 years old boy having Autism is part of this program since 9 months, here his mother says, “I have observed a quick improvement in Ahmad’s behaviors after having unique therapy.”She said, “I think this outdoor exposure brings more improvement in these children then outdoor activities.”