Thursday, July 16, 2009
Horses of hope
A Boones Mill equine therapy center has added a program to help at-risk youth.
Stephanie Klein-Davis | The Roanoke Times
Meghan Hickok, 9, of Buchanan, who is seeking therapy for some form of pervasive developmental disorders, rides Frank, a Percheron, bareback with the help of therapist Cami Murnane (left) and volunteers Jaimie Echternach (center) and Connie Blair (right) as certified equine specialist Michelle Holling-Brooks observes at Unbridled Change in Boones Mill. Unbridled Change offers therapeutic riding programs for young people with disabilities.
Meghan Hickok, 9, and her brother, Dylan Hickok, 10, clean the hooves of Frank, a Percheron. Both children attend Unbridled Change, a nonprofit therapy center in Boones Mill.
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After a bout of encephalitis at age 13, Michelle Holling-Brooks was assured by doctors she would never walk again.
Rejecting her grim diagnosis, she began therapeutic riding lessons and within a year had regained full use of her legs -- a feat, she said, that she owes to equine assisted therapy.
Now the founder and executive director of Unbridled Change, a nonprofit therapy center in Boones Mill, Holling-Brooks runs a series of therapeutic riding programs aimed at helping young people who are struggling with physical, mental and learning disabilities.
Unbridled Change offers specific therapy programs for at-risk youth in addition to therapeutic riding classes for the physically and mentally disabled.
Holling-Brooks said she was motivated to add a program that targets at-risk youth after working at a domestic violence shelter in Lexington.
That's where she began to realize that equine therapy could also be useful for young people working through emotional and behavioral issues.
"I began taking kids out to the barn and working with them there instead of at the shelter," she said. "I saw a huge difference. They were opening up in ways they hadn't been in a traditional therapy setting."
Holling-Brooks became a certified equine specialist in equine-assisted psychotherapy and equine-assisted learning programs.
She said the difference between those programs and therapeutic riding is that equine-assisted psychotherapy and learning clients never actually ride a horse.
Instead, they work through their unhealthy behaviors by interacting with horses. Both an equine specialist and a mental health specialist guide the process.
Holling-Brooks said the model works because it's hands-on and forces at-risk youth to directly face their problems.
"The horse challenges their perceptions and behavior patterns in a way they can't deny," she said.
Tiffany Smith, executive director of Flying Changes in Christiansburg, also has specialized in equine-assisted psychotherapy and equine-assisted learning therapy programs for the past six years.
Smith said this model works well with adolescents who struggle with traditional forms of communication.
"Not everyone communicates in the same way, and this is a let-me-see-it instead of let-me-hear-it" type of therapy, she said. "It can't be scripted or predicted -- you have to go wherever the situation takes you."
Holling-Brooks said the majority of youngsters attending her programs for at-risk youth come from foster care and the Department of Social Services.
"Somehow they've come into the system and are typically struggling with their in-home environments," she said.
The programs generally last eight to 10 weeks.
"It's amazing to watch. They really learn to trust the process and open up as they begin to bond with the horses."
