Mental Health Services

Clients will engage in relational therapy that prioritizes connection and communication with the focus being on learning new relationship behaviors. Clients will practice these new skills through building relationships with horses. 

Clients will learn and practice the following skills with horses: 

• Reading body language, boundary setting, communication, learn how to trust intuition, building and maintaining healthy relationships, reduce anxiety through mindfulness activities with horses and natural horsemanship

• We utilize the equine facilitated mental health model because it embraces the science that humans learn best by doing. This clinical model prescribes a hands-on approach where clients are given the space to project and analyze their situations, make connections, and find their own solutions. Since the solutions are personally experienced in conjunction with intellectual understanding, they tend to be deeper, more profound, and longer lasting.   

Equine Facilitated Mental Health is an evidence-based clinical intervention. No horseback riding is involved. Instead, effective and deliberate techniques are utilized where the horses become metaphoric in specific ground-based experiences utilizing natural horsemanship techniques.

Our primary goal is to provide innovative behavioral health services to Veterans with a non-traditional but clinical focus. We offer both individual therapy and one day wellness retreats for Veterans.

The Wellness Retreats are available to any Veteran in Oregon. These wellness retreats are tailored for Veterans and are also very effective with survivors of military sexual assault as well as for suicide prevention and postvention. We offer lodging and a fuel stipend to those participants that live out of the area.  These retreats are paid for by a variety of grant funders and private foundations. Including:  Oregon Health Authority, Central Oregon Health Council, Private Foundations, Family Foundations and private donations. 

We also offer programs and services to Military families as well as Military spouses and caregivers.

Children and their families will be learning powerful techniques with horses that can be applied to all areas of their life. They will be developing a tool kit that helps them to more adeptly cope with the challenges in their lives. 

Equine Facilitated Mental Health (EFMH) well suited for children and teens as it engages them and it appeals to their hands-on nature and preference for action (versus talking). It is action-oriented in this way with an emphasis on non-verbal communication. Insights and changes in behavior therefore do not necessarily occur by talking, but rather through horse-human interaction. Often when a youth has issues with connection and relationships, the horses offer a bridge and a start at connection. This successful connection and relationship with the horse can be a stepping stone to better connection and relationship with friends and family and school interactions.

We offer Military Family days at the ranch and Summer Camps for Military Youth as well as one day Retreats for Military Spouses and Caregivers.

One day wellness retreats are offered to Military connected spouses and caregivers.  The integrative all day wellness retreats include activities with horses ( no riding) and an opportunity to try relaxation yoga, rhythmic drumming and acupuncture in a peaceful and serene ranch environment. 

These retreats and Military family programs are funded by grants, donations and private foundations. So,  no cost to the Military Families.

Available in the integrative retreats

Clients have an opportunity to try yoga, rhythmic drumming and acupuncture to develop healthy options to deal with PTSD symptoms, reduce anxiety, reduce suicidality, decrease substance use and depression.

All acupuncture and yoga sessions take place in our Yoga Saloon or outside on the lawn in a group setting. 

We utilize the NADA acupuncture protocol that is specifically designed to treat PTSD and trauma symptoms. The acupuncture takes place in zero gravity chairs and treatment include 3 points on the ear. A non-needle option is available.  The ranch contracts with a Naturopath and licensed acupuncturist, Dr. Michelle.

Retreats are focused on PTSD and trauma symptom reduction by utilizing Equine Facilitated Mental Health and an introduction to practices like yoga, acupuncture, mindfulness, rhythmic drumming and other integrative and holistic approaches. 

Retreats are designed to support veterans, military personnel, first responders, trauma survivors to improve mental health and wellness in a peaceful and supportive setting.

Learn more about our retreats here