Enhance your mental health journey with horses. Horses can sense and mirror our emotions, help us build trust, confidence, and self-awareness. Equine-assisted activities have been shown to reduce stress, improve mood, enhance emotional intelligence, improve communication skills, and increase self-esteem.
Our programs are often customized to meet the needs of the individuals, families, or teams we are serving.
Our Ohana Equine Specialists work closely and often partner with various outside credentialed specialists, including but not limited to: LPC, LCSW, LCSW-C, LICSW, ATR-BC, THP and GC-Cs.
EQUINE-ASSISTED ACTIVITIES:
An Equine Specialist in Mental Health and Learning (ESMHL) integrates horse-human interaction through Therapeutic Horsemanship (TH), and Equine-Assisted Counseling (EAC).
Therapeutic Horsemanship (TH)
An Equine Specialist integrates horse-human interaction in unmounted activities, concentrating on building healthy social-emotional skills and coping strategies. This program is designed to build basic life skills, including focusing, orientation, and emotional intelligence. During these
sessions, horses act as natural and practical “bridges” to create and develop a human-equine bond, as well as human-human bond, based on trust and respect. With the assistance of the horses, clients are confronted with their own inner limits, and the horses help them to overcome such limitations.
Equine-Assisted Counseling (EAC)
An Equine Specialist in Mental Health and Learning, partners with a mental health professional specializing in talk therapy to address the client’s counseling goals. This experiential approach allows professionals to teach a wide range of life skills and coping techniques to those struggling with mental health. These interactive processes provide participants with insight for observation and growth, while promoting healthy communication, social skills, patience, and confidence.
Horses are highly perceptive to subtle changes in their environment, often mirroring the emotions of those around them, giving the participant and specialists insight to further client’s counseling goals. *In partnership with a Mental Health Specialist and incorporates talk therapy.
Shelly Dixon, ESMHL, BCMHC
Shelly Dixon, ESMHL, BCMHC
Shelly Dixon is our lead PATH Certified Equine Specialist in Mental Health and Learning. She is a certified Human Flourishing Coach and Mental Health Coach through the American Association of Christian Counselors. She heads up all our Equine-Assisted Activities. Shelly lives in Virginia with her husband and two children and is an integral part of many of our programs.
Hours: Tuesdays & Thursdays 4-6pm
Heather Hess, ESMHL
Heather Hess, ESMHL
Heather Hess is one of our Path Certified Equine Specialists in Mental Health and Learning and also serves on our board of directors. Her family donated Bella, a large pony that has become Ohana's lead horse for our equine programs. She has been an integral part of expanding our equine programs and building our volunteer support network. Heather, who is a teacher with Loudoun County Public Schools, has over 25 years of experience in the classroom. She has taught both middle and high school. She currently teaches history and psychology at Tuscarora High School. In addition, she is the Key Club Co-Sponsor with access to a large teen volunteer group.
OTHER OHANA ANIMAL INTERACTIONS
