Beyond Words – the magic of experiential learning

The most powerful moments of my learning have always been when integrated with experience. It’s when I really get it, when the cogs suddenly slot into place in my mind and body. It’s when I integrate meaning into the knowledge.

The trainee therapists and counsellors I work with have been taught a variety of psychological and psychotherapeutic theories. Turning this theory into well-grounded practice is always a challenge but time and again I see them really get it when they connect their experience in the therapy room to the theory. It’s when the true meaning of the theory lands.

Craik and Lockhart’s Levels of Processing Theory explains why this is the case. This experiential learning is an example of the deeper processing they talk of.

At PHYSIS we want to offer training to counsellors and psychotherapists that is much more than gaining a CPD certificate. Understanding theoretical concepts matters but bringing them to life within our experience is transformational. Insight that emerges organically in this way is rooted in much more solid ground.

To live and breathe our philosophy we are going to Equilore, a charity offering equine assisted psychotherapy. Horses respond authentically and immediately to human presence, emotion and relational dynamics. They don’t use words so we can’t talk it, whatever it is, through with them. We can’t put forward an intellectual argument or convince them of our position.  They just experience us and respond. And if we are open, we can learn a lot about our emotional states, patterns of communication, and capacity for attunement. I’ve been before and the horses’ responses drew back the curtain on an uncertainty I was trying to keep under wraps.

Isobel and I want to learn more about how we are together and how that might be experienced by those who come to our courses or participate in our process group. We have a view. The herd may agree or they may tell us something very different. It may be a comfortable experience or not, or anything in between but I know I am excited about the potential to learn in such a rich experiential space.