Welcome to MN LINC: Programs

Kids and Horses: Equine Facilitated Mental Health Protocols for At-Risk Youth

Information Sheet

Animals as compassionate healers help kids:

Learn communication and intimacy skills
Build & sustain respectful peer relationships
Practice inner awareness and conscious decision-making

Kids and Horses: Equine Facilitated Mental Health Protocals for At-Risk Kids is an innovative mental health program designed to be either a distinct therapy or an enhancement for other therapies. The manual was developed for youth who have experienced emotional and behavioral difficulties, and at the same time, to provide the horses they work with safe and supportive interactions. The protocols featured in Kids and Horses create a profound and immediate atmosphere of safety, and peace, helping youth regain confidence and find or rediscover their place in the world. The Kids and Horses program does not carry the same perceived stigma as conventional therapies, lessening the individual's feelings of being "sick" or "flawed" allowing them to feel change is possible.

Kids and Horses protocols feature equine focused activities that are physically and/or psychologically demanding within a framework of safety and skill building to promote interpersonal and intrapersonal growth. The equine focused activities are designed in increasing levels of perceived risk. These intentional experiences can substantially alter one's view of others, or self, long enough so that one can see things that have never been seen before. Kids and Horses provides a positive, experiential opportunity for individuals with mental or emotional challenges to gain essential feedback about relationships and develop successful coping strategies.

Kids and Horses is an effective program process for use in alternative education, youth prevention services, chemical dependancy programs and in any agency or facility providing innovative youth services. Kids and Horses contains detailed equine activities, therapeutic recommendations, precautions and contraindications as well as recommendations for carry over into other areas of the child's life. Social workers, therapists, educators, counselors and others can use the metaphorical activities of working with horses to help youth integrate and translate these experiences into real-life examples that encourage personal growth, cognitive restructuring and an opportunity to try things differently.

Kids and Horses outcomes include:

Increased resiliency, reduced stress
Redirected anger
Effective communication skills, especially in times of intense emotion when it is crucial to communicate in a non-adversarial manner
Ability to make better choices and build healthier relationships
Resistance to negative peer pressures
Increased self-esteem and confidence, accountability

A fee structure has been designed to provide different levels of program assistance. We would be pleased to work with you to custom-design services and materials that best meet your needs.

For more information on the purchase and training of this protocol, please contact:
Tanya Welsch at 952-472-2422 or tanya@mnlinc.org.