Aligning Veteran's Strengths with Horses’ Freedom for Healing

Soul to Soles Connection, a 501 (c)3 organization, is dedicated to reducing the impact of trauma in America’s active-duty military, Veterans, and their families. We provides FREE ground-based counseling, with horses, at our farm in Mooresville, NC.

America’s service members, veterans and their families have made innumerable sacrifices for our freedoms. Soul to Soles never turns away someone who has the courage to ask for help. Participants, suffering from trauma, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBI) or Military Sexual Trauma (MST), are offered the time to heal and overcome, with the support of our horses and the professional facilitation team.

The experiential nature of working with horses, engages the active and retired military in their own healing process, reaching solutions that meet them squarely on their own terms. This approach reduces the symptoms of trauma, while rediscovering confidence, compassion, and trust.

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What makes this work POWERFUL & EFFECTIVE for military clients?

NOVEL & ENGAGING

The non-traditional setting helps service members move beyond the perceived stigma that can be associated with talk-only therapy and office visits.

BREAKTHROUGHS

Horses are highly-in-tuned animals, who offer safe reflection and compelling feedback for the anxieties that military clients may be facing. The horses’ unique sensitivity helps clients understand their own internal processes more readily than hours of talk.

HERD DYNAMICS

Horses live in herds. Observing the herd dynamics can help clients better understand the dynamics of their own family, military unit, and community. This provides immediate feedback and a positive model for collaboration, support and trust.

FOSTERS RESILIENCE

This work provides opportunities for service members and their families to discover their inner resources and strengths. They can overcome perceived obstacles and grow in their unit, communities, and homes. The experience is felt throughout the body!

ON THE RADIO:

PUTTING THE PIECES BACK TOGETHER PODCAST – EPISODE 17: KATIE STANKIEWICZ WITH SOUL TO SOLE CONNECTION

Putting the Pieces Back Together is a radio show hosted by Veterans and seeks to provide a space where Veterans and communities can connect, be heard, grow, heal, and ultimately put the pieces back together. Join John Gallina and Brad Borders of Purple Heart Homes every Tuesday morning on Putting the Pieces Back Together!

DONATE TO SOUL TO SOLES CONNECTION

America, especially the active and retired military, is enthralled in a mental health crisis that demands ACTION. When service members return home, all have experienced some level of trauma, with less than half receiving adequate mental health treatment. The number of Veterans receiving mental health care has increased 90% from FY 2006-2019. Yet, approximately 22 veterans die by suicide every day, which is 2 times more likely than civilians. It is vital to propagate, enhance, and provide effective mental health care within America’s military.

Soul to Soles Connection is committed to respecting the integrity of those who fought and continue to fight for our freedom. We are driven to “Stomp the Stigma” around mental health, specifically within the military, through individual/couple/family counseling sessions, closed groups, and retreats. There is NO cost to America’s active-duty service members, Veterans, or their families. We strive to never turn away someone who has had the courage to ask for help. Haven’t America’s service members and Veterans paid a high enough price for our Freedoms?

WILLOW EQUINE PARTNERS

“For someone in the military like me, it’s hard to swallow my pride and ask for help. This was a safe environment to open up in. Sometimes the horses talked for me and helped show me the path to save my marriage.”

-Active Duty Veteran

“The Eagala Model uses the horse to gain insight into behaviors horse’s and perceptions. The reactions provide unbiased and real time breaking feedback, through the barriers that many experience military members in conversations with others who cannot begin to understand what we feel because we made it back.”

–Jimmy L. Walters, COL, USA (Ret)

“Willow Equine allows the Veteran to bask in sensory stimulation … enjoy the warm beams of sunshine that rest upon cheekbones or catch a whiff of honeysuckle while being serenaded by a chorus of birds chirping. Simple freedoms such as these are a gentle reminder of all that Veterans, and their family members, sacrifice to protect our homeland and the liberties offered to all residing here. Despite the magnitude of what these Veterans faced in combat, a trip to Willow Equine leaves them filled with gratitude. They understand that these simple freedoms are anything but simple.”

-Terri Gilbeau, CTRS VA Medical Center, Salisbury, North Carolina

“My 14 year old son and I began coming to Willow Equine almost two years ago. We had both been dealing with our fair share of personal trauma and were essentially in survival mode. He had dealt with the fallout from my struggles with alcoholism and addiction, the breakdown of his family and his father’s sudden death. I needed a place to begin to heal from the pain of life. The environment was safe and inviting. The team of counselor and equine-specialist established an authentic space free from judgement. I watched my son become less angry, bitter, and sarcastic. I watched him be enveloped by love and support. I watched him be disarmed by the relationships he formed with the horses and llamas. I saw him learn that ‘not if, but when’ life gets hard, you reach out for help. I can speak firsthand of the benefits of my involvement with Willow Equine. Horses are emotionally sensitive animals and tend to reflect the energy and body language around them. Being in the horse’s presence naturally helped to bring to the surface many troublesome thoughts and feelings that needed to be dealt with. These were opportunities to move through the difficulty with the help of the counselor and equine-specialist. I often say that the horses ‘do the heavy lifting’, when it comes to walking through the tough stuff. For me, the spirit of the horses combined with the unique support of the humans is an equation that adds to healing.”

-Anonymous

FLYER FOR MILITARY SERVICES