" Healing Hooves: Horses Empowering Special Youth”

Support for foster and systems-impacted youth

Expand existing project, program, or initiative (expanding and continuing ongoing, successful work)

There are over 25,000 youth in the Los Angeles County foster system, the most in the country. Mental health-challenged foster youth have lower educational achievement, greater criminal justice involvement, and fewer stable and longer-term placements than their peers. The rate of Post-traumatic Stress Disorder in former foster youth was nearly double the rate found in U.S. combat veterans. Mental health care access is a problem for foster youth, due to lack of resources and limited caregiver availability. 85 percent of these youth do not receive therapy. Even when resources are available, traditional “talk therapy” is a challenge for youth with histories of abuse who have difficulty verbalizing their experiences and do not trust authority figures. Effective alternative therapeutic interventions are needed that will help foster healing and healthy functioning and Equine Assisted Therapy (EAT) is perfectly suited to meet that need.

Healing Hooves, an EAT group program expanding on a successful Equine Assisted Growth and Learning Association (EAGALA) modality by incorporating licensed therapists into the therapeutic intervention. The group approach presents youth with opportunities to develop teamwork and leadership skills while still providing individual attention. Working in partnership with local organizations, youth identified with social and behavioral issues will learn the pillars of EAGALA which are “Trust, Respect, Responsibility, Relationship Skills, Boundaries, Empathy, Choices and Consequences”. Working with horses requires clear communication and trust, instilling a sense of responsibility, teamwork, and self-discipline. Program steps are: Assessment & Goal Setting; Introduction to Horses; Safety; Therapeutic Activities; Groundwork; Interactive Exercises; Processing & Reflection; Conclusion & Planning. Horses are non-judgmental, providing unconditional acceptance and healing, especially to those with trust issues and trauma. Sensitive to human emotions, horses mirror the client’s feelings and behavior. This immediate therapeutic response forces clients to become aware of their emotional state, body language and promotes emotional regulation in real-time. The horse facilitates a unique form of expression and interaction. Unlike “talk therapy”, EAT offers immediate biofeedback, engaging the participant physically, forcing mindfulness and self-awareness, creating a holistic healing approach.

We plan to serve a total of 144 LA County foster youth on a rolling basis throughout the granting period. Each youth will receive the entire EAT course, one 120-minute group session each week for six weeks. Our goal is to expand therapeutic outcomes. EAT is a powerful tool on its own and in conjunction with traditional therapies it offers a comprehensive treatment approach that addresses multiple dimensions of well-being, leading to more effective and sustainable outcomes for clients. We also offer internships to schools for therapists thereby helping to train and expand the local community of caregivers. By incorporating EAT into their programs, future therapists are provided additional tools and approaches to enhance their practices and meet the diverse needs of their clients. The ultimate goal is to create a lasting impact on the lives of youth in our communities, fostering a society that values and supports mental health welfare and safety.

Our “Healing Hooves” program will use the Youth Outcome Questionnaire (YOQ) as a measuring and outcome tool.YOQ is designed to assess a youth's emotional and behavioral functioning. It contains multiple items, each with a range of response options, (Never: 0, Rarely: 1, Sometimes: 2, Frequently: 3, Almost Always: 4). Adding up the scores provides an overall indication of the youth’s emotional and behavioral functioning.Higher scores indicate greater distress or severe symptoms. Subscale scores help identify specific areas of concern. For instance, high scores in the Intrapersonal Distress subscale indicate more internalizing problems like anxiety or depression, while high scores in the Interpersonal Relationships subscale suggest difficulties in social interactions. This process helps in identifying the youth's emotional and behavioral issues and tailoring interventions accordingly.