A partnership between the Grande Prairie Stompede and the Peace Area Riding for the Disabled Society is expected to help expand equine-assisted mental health programming for youth in the region.
Executive director Shirley McDonald said a $25,000 donation received over the weekend at the 5th Annual GP Stompede Tarp Auction Gala will support the organization’s Unbridled program, which connects young people with trained facilitators and horses in a therapeutic setting.
McDonald said she becomes emotional when asked how the funding will support the program because, as an administrator, she does not always see the one-on-one work between facilitators and clients, but does hear stories about its impact.
“It’s hard not to be impassioned about a program like this,” she said. “I remember [one of the facilitators]talking about one young girl that would come out for a session… They usually would have an initial conversation and then they choose their horse. They choose based on their thought process that day, there’s no encouragement to pick one horse or the other and this one day, they go out and they were standing at the paddocks, and she’s looking at these couple of horses, and she said, which one do you feel connected with today?”
McDonald said the girl later explained she chose one horse because it appeared attentive, while another seemed withdrawn. When asked why, the girl said, “because that’s what I do.”
“When she said the whole meeting can take a whole change just by something that comes out of the youth’s mouth, that gives an insight that they take sessions.”
McDonald said one facilitator told her she sees more progress in 45 minutes working with a horse than in six sessions in an office, adding sessions held outdoors can have a significant impact.
She said the program also helps rebuild family relationships. In one case, a participant who had withdrawn socially began re-engaging at school and opening up to her parents after attending sessions.
“[The mom said] my daughter’s smile came back,” McDonald said. “She said, that’s a gift. I have my daughter back.”
The donation will help cover costs associated with caring for the horses and hiring trained facilitators.
McDonald said demand for the program is growing, including interest from schools and community organizations, but recruiting facilitators with both counselling and equine experience remains a challenge.
