Dr. Charlotte Swift
Charlotte is a Chartered Clinical Psychologist with over 17 years of experience working across the NHS, private practice, government services, and charitable organisations.
She specialises in working with trauma, anxiety, and depression, and has a particular interest in complex trauma and personality functioning.
Her approach is grounded in evidence-based therapies, and she is trained
in a range of specialist models including Schema Therapy, Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR), Narrative Exposure Therapy, Compassion Focused Therapy and Trauma-Focused CBT. She also offers Equine-Facilitated Psychotherapy—using the unique relationship between humans and horses to support emotional healing and mental wellbeing.
Alongside therapy, she has extensive experience in assessment, clinical leadership, supervision, consultation, training and reflective practice facilitation. Whether she’s working with individuals, teams, or organisations, she aims to bring compassion, clarity, and a focus on meaningful change.
What is Equine Facilitated Psychotherapy?
Equine Facilitated Psychotherapy, or EFP, is a type of therapy that involves interactions with horses and it can be extremely effective in improving mental health and wellbeing.
At Sentient Psychology, we work with the horses as co-therapists to explore experience, to develop a greater repertoire of skills to manage emotions and change patterns in how we relate to ourselves and others.
Why is EFP effective?
Horses are highly sensitive to human emotions and body language. They respond in real-time to how a person is feeling, offering immediate, non-verbal feedback. This can help us to become more aware of our internal states and patterns of interaction.
Being around horses often requires calm, present-moment awareness. We can learn to regulate our emotions and behaviours to interact successfully with the horse—skills that transfer to everyday life.
Horses can form authentic, trusting relationships with humans and a safe, consistent bond with a horse can be a reparative experience that supports healthier patterns in human relationships.
What do clients say about the process and the effectiveness of EFP?
“Charlotte is a highly professional therapist who was always clear, kind and compassionate. I felt safe working with the horses; there were always choices available on how we proceeded. In only a few sessions, Charlotte and her herd were able to identify key feelings and issues, bringing them to light for awareness and reflection. Overall I found the therapy powerful and impactful with a lasting positive effect"
“I had three sessions with Charlotte and found them all to be a very powerful experience - right from the get-go. Charlotte is a calm, gentle and reassuring person, and she provided me with a safe environment to not only bond with the horses, but to connect and ground myself (at the time of a highly anxious mind state). Charlotte, sympathetically yet assuredly, helped me understand these moments and give true honest insights to myself - clearer than any talking therapies I have ever had”
“I was amazed by the way in which the horses seemed to be impacted by my own internalised thoughts and emotions. Charlotte guided me through the sessions in a supportive manner and helped me to look at my current ways of thinking, boundary-setting and reactions to situations from a new perspective”.
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