Therapy Going Out To Pasture

Imagine laying on a chaise while the therapist leans in—their glasses on the tip of their nose—and asks you “how did that make you feel?” This is the picture of therapy circa 1980 and it’s increasingly outdated and evolving. But I’m not just talking about tele-psych. There’s a much broader spectrum of therapy without the need for an app or iPhone. People are taking to grass pastures to find healing through interactions with, of all things, so-called therapy cows. An inpatient recovery center in Athens, Georgia that was maybe a little too inspired by season 4 of Yellowstone, provides its patients access to cows named Maverick and Goose, no doubt in honor of Top Gun fans. But all jokes aside this therapy, like equine therapy, may actually help reduce anxiety and panic attacks in certain people since a cow’s warmer body temperature and slower heartbeat is said to have a soothing effect. This center is in-network with many insurers and although I can’t imagine cow therapy being covered to any meaningful extent, it’s not impossible for a value-based cow therapy arrangement. Maybe $25 PMPM for a 1-hour session per week, with potential for bonus payments if Maverick screens for social risk factors, or eliminates the need for anxiety medications. I know the farm aesthetic isn’t for everyone, so if you’re more of a boat person, you can head on over to an oceanside inpatient rehab center in Georgia…just be prepared to pay upwards of $40,000 a month, and without the chance to pet a cow.

-Samantha Kaishian