(WSVN) - A South Florida woman is using her own experience with grief to help others learn ways to cope with loss, and she’s discovered some of the best counselors are the ones with four legs. Heather Walker has tonight’s 7 Spotlight.
Taking care of a horse is hard work, but it can also be a lot of fun.
Noah: “And now she’s licking me! Ewww!”
Grooming ponies like River gives Noah the emotional support he needs.
Mayte, Noah’s mother: “I didn’t know what to do. I was completely lost.”
Noah’s mother says her son struggled after the death of his father. A friend told her about a program called “Tomorrow’s Rainbow,” a nonprofit that provides mental health services in a non-traditional setting.
Abby Mosher, Founder of Tomorrow’s Rainbow: “We have some goats as well, but the horses have a special therapeutic component that we rely on. We believe that people feel so much better in nature.”
Abby came up with the idea 20 years ago, after the death of her husband. She and her son Dustin were able to get grief counseling through their health insurance.
Abby Mosher: “But week after week, I’d sit in the waiting room and wonder, ‘What do all the other families do that don’t have that insurance or don’t have the money for therapy?'”
Abby started Tomorrow’s Rainbow to provide free grief counseling to children and their families. Instead of working out of an office, sessions are held on the farm.
Noah: “Hi, Precious!”
Abby Mosher: “So, typical therapy, you would be in an office, and you would rely on language. You would rely on talk a lot. But when we work with the children, they really do so much better through activities, through play, through experiential interactions.”
Noah: “This is a face brush, and we have to be very careful with it so it does not go in her eye.”
While kids like Noah learn about horses, they also learn how to open up and talk about their feelings.
Mayte: “Noah tends to hold everything in until he explodes, and coming here, being around other kids who are having similar experiences, has helped him really open up and talk about what he’s going through.”
Noah: “It lets me know that I’m not alone.”
Noah: “Ah, stop licking me!”
The horses do more than just provide comfort. They also help teach the kids valuable coping skills.
Abby Mosher: “They are the only animal in the animal kingdom that has the natural ability to mirror your behavior. So when the children are working with the horse, whatever they’re giving off, the horse is going to give back to them. If they don’t like what they see, they can make those adjustments. So they learn to self-soothe and self-regulate.”
Mayte says the therapy sessions have changed her son’s life.
Mayte: “He’s smiling a lot more. That’s a big win, ’cause for a long time, he wasn’t smiling.”
Noah: “Ah, Precious!”
For Noah, the program has not only helped him cope with the death of his father but also honor his memory.
Noah: “Honestly, I think that he’ll be proud of me, see what I’ve done without him. He’ll just probably be proud of me.”
Noah: “Bye, Snickers!”
A goodbye for now, to a very special therapist.
Heather Walker, 7News.
FOR MORE INFO:
Tomorrow’s Rainbow
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