A new nonprofit organization called S.T.E.P.S. With Horses, aka STEPS, is pairing horses with active and veteran military service members and their families, at-risk youth and others with mental health concerns as a ground-breaking step to long-term healing.
STEPS was created in 2017 by Hallie Sheade, Ph.D., LPC and Marine Corps Veteran Paul Ziehe. This husband and wife duo plans to meet a growing need for an alternative form of mental health therapy through equine-assisted activities and therapies, including counseling and psychotherapy, therapeutic activities, education, and community engagement.
Sheade, who is a licensed professional counselor and registered play therapist, founded Cleburne-based Equine Connection in 2014 which specializes in providing counseling and psychotherapy to veterans and at-risk youth through interaction with horses. Since its opening ECC has provided more than 3,800 hours of individual counseling to more than 200 clients.
“For many people coming to counseling for mental health struggles, the idea of seeking help can feel pretty scary and overwhelming,” Sheade said in the release. “The majority of the people who have come to us for equine-assisted counseling tend to be people who have avoided office-based counseling or who have been dissatisfied with the results of office-based counseling. These clients come to us because they’re looking for something different.”
Sheade noticed that many of her clients didn’t want to end treatment after meeting goals because they didn’t want to lose their connection with the horse and many of them experienced a relapse after termination of services.
STEPS will serve as an expansion to ECC’s services and will help reach more clients with more services. Through STEPS after completing counseling, clients will be able to continue their relationship with the horse by participating in supportive activities designed to help them build upon the progress and skills achieved during counseling.
“What we’ve done, through the STEPS model, is create opportunities for clients to maintain and deepen their relationships with horses while simultaneously building upon progress and skills achieved in counseling, become a part of a new community made of others with shared interests and experiences, and begin to give back to others, both human and horse,” Sheade said. “We strive to support clients in becoming a part of a new community – the horses’ community – whether that is here in our STEPS community or eventually out in the greater horse community outside of STEPS.”
The nonprofit is currently seeking monetary donations to continue providing free equine-assisted counseling services for military service members and their family members through its partner, Equine Connection Counseling, until a location for STEPS is established.
The most immediate need is to find a location for a new home. STEPS is looking to identify potential partners who would be interested in helping to acquire and/or work out an arrangement that would allow the nonprofit to use land and facilities.
After establishing STEPS in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, Sheade and Ziehe hope to replicate the model to create additional locations.
“The goal is to not only help people to get better, but to stay better,” Ziehe said.
For more information, please visit stepswithhorses.org.