Our Programs
Healing through Horses Program
Our weekly Healing through Horses program launched in 2021. This two-phased program provides a positive therapeutic experience that fosters resiliency, builds confidence and skills, and engages participants as equine specialists. Healing through Horses includes weekly individual and group EAL and EAP sessions for foster youth, unhoused youth, and teens living in transitional housing through partnerships with local nonprofit organizations, including Youth Homes and Youth Spirit Artworks (YSA).
During the program, teens and young adults engage in 8 sessions of group EAP and EAL. Through the sessions they experience the mental health benefits, including emotional regulation and positive changes in mood, perspectives, and frames of mind. Following the 8 sessions, participants have the option to transition as equine specialists, assisting Rusty Halo staff in supporting and training their peers who are new to the Program. In this role they also carry on with their own work with the horses, continuing to learn and grow.
We are always looking for new partners! If you work with a nonprofit in Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin or Solano County and the teens and/or young adults you serve are interested in equine therapy, please contact us!
“Our youth have used the lessons learned with the horses around boundaries to really make incredible progress in realizing how valuable and powerful their voices are. We’ve personally witnessed them use these lessons to be clear and protect their energy and space from pushy romantic partners, unkind employers, and their closest friends to gently yet firmly set healthy boundaries in incredible ways that most adults can learn lots of lessons from!”
— Youth Spirit Artworks • Healing through Horses program partner