What Is Experiential Therapy and How Do I Find It Near Me?

Written by the Team at Griffith Centers 99 Years of Building Brighter Futures Across Colorado Learn more about our team →

Updated: 08/07/26

Experiential therapy uses hands-on activities like movement, art, animal interaction, and community-based experiences to help kids and teens process emotions they may not have the words for yet. Instead of sitting and talking through a problem, a child works through it by doing something, which can make healing feel less intimidating and more natural. In Colorado, families can find this type of support through community mental health organizations and specialized youth programs that build experiential work directly into treatment.

Key Takeaways

• Experiential therapy uses action-based approaches like art, movement, and animal interaction to help children process what they cannot yet express verbally.
• It is particularly well-suited for children who resist or struggle with traditional talk therapy, children who have experienced trauma, and younger children whose developmental stage makes verbal processing less accessible.
• Experiential therapy can be combined with other treatment approaches and is often most effective as part of a coordinated care plan.
• Coverage through insurance and Medicaid varies but is increasingly available, particularly through community-based mental health organizations

• Table of Contents

  • What age groups is experiential therapy best suited for?
  • How is experiential therapy different from traditional talk therapy?
  • What does an experiential therapy session look like?
  • Is experiential therapy covered by insurance or Medicaid?
  • How do I know if my child is a good fit for this approach?
  • What credentials should I look for in a provider?
  • Can experiential therapy be combined with other treatment types?
  • FAQ

What age groups is experiential therapy best suited for?

Experiential therapy is well-suited for children and adolescents across a wide age range, from early childhood through the teen years, with the specific format adapted to developmental stage.

For younger children, ages four to eight or so, experiential approaches are often the most natural fit because this is the developmental stage where play and action are the primary modes of processing. A young child who has experienced something difficult often does not have the language, the cognitive development, or the emotional vocabulary to talk about it directly. But they can draw it, act it out in play, or process it through interaction with an animal or a hands-on activity.

For older children and adolescents, experiential therapy is often used for those who have found traditional talk therapy frustrating, disconnecting, or ineffective. The teenager who shuts down when asked to talk about their feelings in a therapy office may engage with remarkable openness when the same material is approached through movement, creative work, or a structured community activity. The doing creates an access point to the feeling that the talking sometimes cannot.

Adults also benefit from experiential approaches, particularly in trauma treatment and group settings, but the majority of experiential therapy programs are specifically designed for the developmental needs of children and teens.

How is experiential therapy different from traditional talk therapy? 

The primary difference is in the medium. Talk therapy uses conversation as the vehicle. Experiential therapy uses activity, experience, and engagement as the vehicle.

In traditional talk therapy, the therapist and client sit together and use language to explore, examine, and process. This requires the client to access their internal experience verbally, to translate what they feel into words, and to examine those words together. For many clients, this is a powerful and effective process.

For others, particularly children and adolescents, and particularly those who have experienced trauma, verbal access to their experience is limited. The nature of trauma, and of early childhood development more broadly, means that the most significant material is often not stored in a form that language can easily reach. It is stored in the body, in behavior, in images, in the nervous system’s automatic responses.

Research published in PubMed on experiential and activity-based therapeutic approaches documents the effectiveness of experiential approaches for children and adolescents, including in trauma-focused work. The hands-on dimension allows children to process and communicate through modes that are more accessible than verbal narration alone.

Experiential therapy does not abandon language or insight. It creates different entry points into the material, and then language and reflection often follow more naturally once the child has had the experience.

What does an experiential therapy session look like? 

It depends significantly on the specific modality and provider, but the common thread is structured activity with a therapeutic purpose.

An animal-assisted therapy session at Griffith Centers might involve a child working with horses or other animals in a facilitated way: observing behavior, making contact, engaging in a task that the animal responds to. The child’s experience of the animal, what happens in their body, what emotions surface, what memories or associations arise, becomes the material that the therapist works with. The animal is not incidental. It is a therapeutic partner that brings out responses that the clinical room does not always access.

An art therapy session might involve open creative work or a structured directive, with the therapist observing what emerges and creating space for the child to reflect on it at whatever level they are ready for. The artwork externalizes something that was internal, which makes it easier to approach and to talk about.

Community-based experiential activities might involve structured outdoor experiences, skills-based challenges, or group activities where the therapeutic work happens through the real dynamics of trying something difficult alongside others.

In all cases, the session is guided by a trained clinician who is paying attention not just to what the child is doing but to what it means, and creating space for the processing to happen in the child’s own way and time.

Is experiential therapy covered by insurance or Medicaid? 

Coverage varies by plan and provider, but it is more available than many families assume.

Medicaid coverage for experiential therapy depends on how the services are coded and billed. When experiential therapy is delivered as part of a comprehensive mental health treatment program, with appropriate documentation and clinical justification, it is increasingly covered by Medicaid in Colorado and other states. Community-based mental health organizations like Griffith Centers, which have experience navigating these billing questions, are well-positioned to help families understand what their coverage includes.

Private insurance coverage follows similar patterns: it tends to be available when the experiential component is embedded in a documented treatment plan rather than offered as a standalone service. The most direct path to knowing what your plan covers is to call your insurance provider and ask specifically about community-based mental health services and evidence-based therapy approaches for children and adolescents.

Griffith Centers works with families to navigate coverage questions and identify the most accessible path to the care their child needs.

How do I know if my child is a good fit for this approach? 

Children who tend to do particularly well with experiential therapy include those who resist or shut down in traditional talk therapy settings, those whose trauma history makes verbal processing difficult or unsafe, younger children who are not yet developmentally ready for insight-oriented work, and children for whom a sensory or hands-on engagement style is simply a more natural fit for how they learn and process.

That said, the approach is broad enough that most children can benefit from some form of experiential work, particularly when it is offered alongside other treatment modalities rather than as the only intervention.

The best way to assess fit is to talk with a provider who can evaluate your child’s specific presentation, history, and needs, and recommend an approach tailored to them rather than applying a standard protocol.

Griffith Centers’ children’s therapy services include assessment and individualized planning that takes your child’s full picture into account.

What credentials should I look for in a provider? 

For experiential therapy broadly: a licensed mental health clinician who has training in the specific experiential modalities they offer.

For animal-assisted therapy specifically: credentials from the handler and the organization are important. Reputable animal-assisted therapy programs train their animals, vet their handlers, and operate within clinical supervision. Organizations affiliated with credentialing bodies for animal-assisted intervention (such as the Pet Partners registry) offer some assurance of quality.

For art therapy specifically: a Board Certified Art Therapist (ATR-BC) credential indicates that the provider has completed the required graduate training in art therapy and passed a national certification exam. This is distinct from a therapist who uses art as an activity.

For experiential education and community-based programs: look for programs embedded within licensed mental health organizations with trauma-informed supervision and documented treatment planning. The experiential component should be part of a clinical plan, not a recreation program.

Can experiential therapy be combined with other treatment types? 

Yes, and for many children it works best as part of a coordinated approach rather than as a standalone treatment.

A child who is receiving experiential therapy might also be in individual talk therapy, family therapy, or working with a psychiatrist on medication management. Each of these addresses different dimensions of the child’s needs, and coordination between providers ensures that the approaches reinforce rather than contradict each other.

Family therapy and family preservation services at Griffith Centers provide the relational and systemic support that strengthens the work being done with the child individually. Children heal in the context of their relationships, and including the family in some dimension of the treatment is usually an important part of comprehensive care.

The integration of multiple approaches, each suited to a different aspect of what the child is carrying, tends to produce more durable outcomes than any single modality alone.

If you’re wondering whether experiential therapy could help your child, Griffith Centers is here to talk it through with you. Schedule a free consultation with our team to find the right kind of support for your family.

Contact Griffith Centers →

FAQ 

About Griffith Centers

At Griffith Centers, we’ve been building brighter futures for Colorado children and families since 1927, serving more than 3,000 individuals each year through trauma-informed, evidence-based care. Our approach goes beyond talk therapy alone. Through Experiential Education and Curriculum-Based Community Activities, along with Animal-Assisted Therapy, we help children and teens process trauma and build emotional regulation skills through hands-on, real-world experiences rather than a chair and a clipboard. Whether a family is just beginning to explore what experiential support looks like or is ready to take the next step, our team meets them with the same nonjudgment and compassion that has guided our work for nearly a century.

Schedule a free consultation with Griffith Centers, and let’s figure out together what kind of support your child needs.