Dreamcatcher™ is a Psychology Practice

Just 30 minutes east of Edmonton, Alberta is a 40 acre beautifully treed and trailed ranch called Dreamcatcher™ Nature Assisted Therapy. This tranquil setting boasts a holistic approach to healing offering a wide variety of traditional and unique therapies to help children, youth and adults find healing, balance, and joy that contributes to their personal growth. To date, we have successfully helped people with brain injuries; emotional issues; behavioural concerns; mental health diagnoses; addictions; trauma-related issues; dual and multiple diagnoses; developmental delays; physical impairments; family-oriented concerns and more.​​

Our year-round services are completely individualized to fit the needs of those involved and the therapeutic interventions are chosen based on the individuals’ needs and goals. Therapy interventions may include, talk therapy, play therapy, art therapy, animal-assisted therapy, nature-assisted therapy, equine facilitated counseling or eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR). We offer individual, family and group counselling, assessments, and therapeutic interventions. Ardrossan Dreamcatcher Nature-Assisted Therapy Association, a registered charity, was founded in order to offer a variety of complementary programs to extend our hands and hearts to those who are not be able to access paid clinical services through the Association, as well as people in the community that are not able to physically visit the ranch. The private practice and charity's programs and services are designed and implemented by registered psychologists, clinical social workers, provisional psychologists and behavior management specialists.

Our clinical services consistently involve the person in need's family  members, school personnel and community agencies in all aspects of  programming and treatment planning if and when requested and/or  necessary. Involving the person's support system better ensures the success  of his/her therapeutic experience during and after their therapy sessions. 

Animal-Assisted Therapy (AAT)
Thinking outside the bubble is critical in order to experience breakthroughs. What better way of doing that than offering novel opportunities and unique approaches so people can tackle old problems in non-traditional ways. Our Animal-Assisted Activities and Therapeutic Programs do just that. Where certain people do not respond well to conventional methodologies our critters break the ice acting as channels and helpers enabling people who are extremely difficult to reach to connect and communicate in new and exciting ways. 

The animals introduce a new dynamic and communicate their experience with aggressive and violent youth shedding light on how their troubled behavior impacts others and in turn sabotages their lives. Additionally, the animals foster a whole new experience which can be very beneficial if the participants past clinical experiences were negative. 

Our natural setting, endearing animals and highly skilled therapists provide excellent motivation for people to form healthy and safe partnerships in their personal care plan. While hope is not a plan, it paves the way toward planning a more promising future while making the most of the present.  
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Read more about AAT and other Animal Assisted Services we use in this article by Eileen Bona. 

Nature Assisted Therapy (NAT)
NAT is an umbrella term for all nature based forms of therapy and so it includes wilderness training and/or outdoor adventures, horticulture and Natural Environmental Therapy (NET). To some extent, it also encompasses AAT if there are animals present in the natural environment and aiding in the process of healing. An example could be listening to birds singing which can augment the serene peacefulness of the place, watching wildlife at work or play like beavers building a dam or frolicking deer, or interacting with or observing farm animals. These interactions and observations can be therapeutic in a passive way or can be purposefully “used” as mediums for healing if they are drawn upon or implemented purposefully, by a therapist with goals for a client. Thus there are two views: 

• Therapist “uses” nature as a medium for healing
• Nature itself is the therapist 

Learn more about Nature Assisted Therapy here... Article by Eileen Bona. 

Professional Development
In addition to providing counseling, therapy and psychological service to the community, certification in Animal Assisted Therapy nationwide. This includes the development of AAT courses, university diplomas, workshops, seminars, certification for professionals and certification for therapy animals. Dreamcatcher™ is one of the leading organizations in Animal Assisted Therapy in Canada.   * For more information, check out our Academy tab.  

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WHAT'S IN A NAME?

The name Dreamcatcher™ was chosen from a list of 200 creatively devised ideas. Once this enormous list was narrowed down to 4 names, the names were distributed to 15 children between the ages of six and twelve. The most popular of the four was Dreamcatcher™; when asked why, nearly all the children in the survey suggested it meant "catching dreams."

With no intent on choosing an aboriginal name, the response from the children and the fact that in legend a dreamcatcher's purpose is to catch the bad dreams while allowing the person sleeping to receive the good dreams, it became a perfect representation for what the organization was hoping to accomplish: our Dreamcatcher™ will hold the bad stuff, so people can open themselves up to the good stuff.
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Dreamcatcher™ serves hundreds of families a year and works with more than 40 province-wide agencies that tap into our clinical services and charitable programs. We guide, teach, counsel and inspire, but most of all we are blooming where we've been planted so that others can live more fully. ​