A Letter from our Founder and Executive Director
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Dear HeartStrides friends and supporters,
We made it to 2020! Happy New Year! With a new year comes some updates...including the start of our monthly newsletters to keep you informed!
What a whirlwind this past year has been. As we move into the new year, we hope that you join us in taking the time to reflect on the triumphs and growth we have had in the past year. As we have transitioned into focusing on recovery support work for mental health challenges and substance use, our team and herd have flourished and we are looking forward to reaching more of our community in 2020. The powerful and effective work being done at HeartStrides Therapeutic Horsemanship simply cannot be captured in a newsletter, though I wish it could, we will do our best to summarize the journey we have had in 2019 and give you an idea of the direction we are heading in 2020.
To start, we currently have a steady team of four brilliant and caring individuals, all of whom possess the unique skills that it takes to run not only a ranch, but a truly effective organization that is currently serving a large number of youth-at-risk, families, and military veterans in Thurston County (while also reaching those in Lewis, Mason and Pierce counties). We additionally have a few other individuals who help fill in the gaps when needed which is such a tremendous help as we continue to grow and expand our programs. We now have an equine team of 12 horses, two barn kitties, a flock of chickens and the three ranch dogs! If you think our hands are full, you should see our hearts!
As we begin this new year, we are launching an organization wide re-branding to better reflect where our organization stands and the direction we are heading as we expand our recovery support programs and curriculum. The therapeutic riding program that HeartStrides started with in 2011 has now grown into multiple new programs, a wider range of services, a more focused team, and a larger impact on our local community. With the need of therapeutic and behavioral interventions growing every day in our county and surrounding counties, we are stepping up and creating county wide partnerships to grow our reach to those who benefit from our services. At the core of our every day programs is the focus on healing through the work with our horses. Whether this is seen through our Equine Assisted Youth Peer Support program, Operation THRIVE Warrior Horsemanship, or through our programs in the making through partnerships with NW SOIL or Thurston County Family Recovery Court.
In this newsletter I hope you find inspiration in the growth we have experienced and know that YOU were a part of bringing change to so many local youth, families and veterans. The support from our community means the world to us and is the reason we are able to continue to provide recovery support. Together we can continue to make a difference.
We hope you have had a wonderful holiday season and are looking forward to what this new year has in store for all of us!
Keep healing,
Kristy Dees
Founding Executive Director
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HeartStrides 2019 Program Recap
by Hanna Baus
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We are very excited about the progress that 2020 will bring with your support. Our goal is to ensure that as many participants as possible can benefit from our programs. We get inquiries daily, and with your help, we can continue to grow the amount of youth, families and veterans we serve each year.
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Equine Assisted Youth Peer Support (EAYPS) Program
In 2019, we served 40 youth through our EAYPS program! That brings our running total to 96 youth served since this program started in 2017! The EAYPS program was designed specifically for youth involved with Thurston County Juvenile Court and they are referred to us through their probation counselors/officers. We typically have groups of 10 youth who participate in this 6-week program that takes place four times per year.
To date, we have seen a 76% reduction in Mood Disturbance, 66% reduction in Anxiety, 80% reduction in Suicide Risk, 78% reduction in Substance Use, and 84% reduction in Crime/Delinquency! We also saw: 74% increase in Optimism, 73% increase in Community Connection, and 69% increase in Resilience.
We have continued to receive great feedback from judges, probation counselors and officers, parents, family members and the youth themselves. Our staff are eager to start the next cohort in March 2020!
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Operation THRIVE Warrior Horsemanship
We had two Operation THRIVE Warrior Horsemanship clinics this past summer. We held one in July and one in August and had a total of 19 veterans and veteran spouses join us. We were so fortunate to receive a $10,000 grant from Joe Walsh and the VetsAid concert and we recently received word we received $5,000 to go towards the clinics for 2020! With the help of the Elks Club volunteers and our staff, we put on two awesome clinics with some delicious food. We had a blast going over self-regulation, discussing the messages behind our emotions, connecting with the horses and taking a trail ride. We received some great feedback from the veterans and their spouses including a very touching letter from a veteran's spouse explaining all that she learned in the short 3 days of the clinic.
If you know of anyone interested in signing up for Operation THRIVE (free of charge), please pass along our information! The first clinic date is on the calendar for July 31st-August 2nd!
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Warrior Horsemanship: The Next Mission
Through the Disabled Veterans National Foundation, we received a grant to do a 6-week pilot program for veterans similar to the format of our youth program. This pilot ran from October through November and we served 9 soldiers from JBLM. The curriculum focused on core values, peer support, and the connection between the soldiers and their equine partner.
Some of the outcomes from this program using our two measurement tools included: 80% reduction in Depression, 100% reduction in Anxiety, 60% increase in Community Connection and 100% increase in Resilience. The soldiers' PTSD scores also decreased dramatically!
With the support of our community partners, we are hoping to grow this program to offer it year-round for military personnel in our community. The soldiers provided us with such positive feedback and comments that we are eager to make some slight adjustments to curriculum and get another group out here to participate!
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Pearl Street Recovery Support Program
We have been working with Pearl Street for over a year now and we absolutely love working with their youth!
Pearl Street is a Children's Long-Term Inpatient (CLIP) facility in Tacoma and two of their staff members bring a group of youth out each week for lessons covering horsemanship, core values, emotions and self-regulation while working one-on-one with a horse partner.
We always have a great time and have enjoyed our group discussions, walks in the woods, and the horsemanship (and relationship) lessons the youth actively learn.
As we look forward into this new year, we are excited about the renewed focus on the core values and delving deeper into some of the lessons we can learn from the horses.
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This month we are featuring our trusty ole Blitz!
Blitz is a flea-bitten gray American Quarter Horse. His registered name is Panamas King Leo. He was born in Missouri on May 31st, 1998 (which makes him 22 this year)!
Blitz came to us in 2014 and has built up quite the fan club here at the ranch. He is a laid-back guy who is a crowd favorite! He really enjoys his work with our youth and veterans and is excellent at modeling "calmness."
From one-on-one lessons to group settings, Blitz has helped many people since he joined our herd and we are very lucky to have him here.
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Direct Donations
To donate online, please visit:
To donate by check, please mail to:
HeartStrides
3500 85th Ln SW
Olympia, WA 98512
Direct monetary donations are specifically used to:
- Provide hay and care for our beloved equine partners
- Increase the number of participants we can serve by providing scholarships
- Host after school hours for youth
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Donate Through Businesses
Amazon.com will donate 0.5% of your purchases to HeartStrides through Amazon Smile! You can do your normal shopping
and
support our mission at the same time! Shop our link and start supporting today:
smile.amazon.com/ch/27-3559358
If you shop at Fred Meyer, you can also do your regular grocery shopping and support HeartStrides at the same time. Just link your Fred Meyer Rewards card to HeartStrides with our code (80611) and get shopping. You still keep all of your rewards, but our organization also benefits!
If you are a state employee, we are also signed up with the Combined Fund Drive -- donate today! Our WA state Charity Code is #1481074
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Please connect with us on social media, like and share our content, and help us build support to give our youth, families and veterans the chance to continue on their journey of healing through horses. We are looking forward to sharing more stories of hope and healing.
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HeartStrides | 360-701-6001 | [email protected] | www.heartstridestherapeuticriding.com
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