Stars and Strides Therapeutic Equine Center has served the community for 10 years. Founder Rebecca Flanagan said during that decade, both the center and the concept have grown and support has snowballed.

“In addition to the services we offer and people who are serving, the support from the community has changed a lot, continuing to be impactful,” she said. “It started off with my husband paying for us to file paperwork to start the business and now we are operating on a $200,000 annual budget. That’s because the community believes in what we are doing.”

Located in Meadowbrook, Stars and Strides works with children and adults with physical disabilities, sensory processing disorders, trauma histories, social anxiety, PTSD, cognitive impairments, autism spectrum disorder and many other challenges.

Stars and Strides offers individual and group sessions for children, adults, and veterans. Flanigan said there are two new groups to debut soon.

“We are doing a girls’ group which focuses on boundaries, communication, healthy body image, anxiety, all those things. A lot of girls – especially those who have had some kind of trauma background – have issues with boundaries,” she said. “We will also have a veterans’ group, focusing on mindfulness and self-compassion.”

Funded through Your Community Foundation, the girls’ group will be led by Stars and Strides therapist Amy Deem. The veterans’ group is funded through Berkshire Hathaway Energy Services and will be led by Flanagan and another Stars and Strides therapist who is a veteran.

Stars and Strides utilizes the Eagala Model team approach that includes a licensed, credentialed mental health professional, a qualified equine specialist, and horses.

Flanagan is a life-long horse lover and holds an Agriculture degree from West Virginia University. She was 35 years old when she bought her first horse and was inspired to open an equine therapy center.

“I founded the organization based on a passion for helping people and the love of horses,” she said. “…We had the horse in the barn with people who had teenage girls, I watched and realized that if I had this when I was a kid, it would have saved me heartache and from going down a wrong path. It was a really pivotal moment for me.”

Being around and caring for horses takes responsibility, hard work, sacrifice, and it develops relationships. One learns character building and how to get through struggle and failure, Flanigan said. Horseback riding provides independent riding skills and horsemanship training. Often there are physical, cognitive, social, emotional, and sensory benefits to the rider as well.

Flanagan has emersed herself in the study of horse behavior and human behavior. She is certified as a Horse Specialist in Equine Assisted Activities and Therapies (Eagala Model) and is working on her master’s degree in therapy.

“As I’ve been in the field of helping, I have found that a lot of people grow up with trauma that can affect generations. Someone can be traumatized and pass that on without meaning to,” she said. “If we catch these kids early enough and that that cycle diverted away from trauma, we have opportunity to change our community and the lives of those in our community, state and world.”

Stars and Strides currently has 11 horses, most of which have been donated or rescued. The horses need no specialty training, Flanigan said, but must be able to handle stimulation in working with children who may get excited and have behavioral challenges.

The center currently has about 15 volunteers, who are quite important to the operation.

“They take care of the horses, which may not sound like a big deal, but it can be four to five hours a day and that is huge for us,” Flanagan said.

Supporters are always going above and beyond.

“During the recent cold spell, we were really fortunate to have heated water buckets donated,” Flanagan said.

Stars and Strides works with masters-level interns or those in high school or college programs which are a good fit for the center, including everything from mental health to veterinary studies.

The center is a United Way agency, but it also relies heavily upon grant funding and fundraising.

“In the non-profit world, a lot of grants and funders don’t want to pay for operating costs. Those dollars are often earmarked for something specifically,” Flanagan said. “Fundraisers help pay those operating expenses and salaries.”

This past December, Stars and Strides received a grant through the Harrison County Commission from an opioid settlement to bring in a full-time therapist specifically to work with people with addictions, Flanagan said.

The next fundraiser is the April 5 “Night at the Races” at Bridgeport Conference Center. Tickets for the 10th annual dinner/race event are $50 each and can be purchased HERE.

Before embarking upon the Stars and Strides adventure, Flanagan worked for the federal government and made a good living. But she is so glad she followed this dream.

“To find happiness, you have to go with your passion,” she said. “I’ve been doing this for 10 years and it continues to wow me.”

Equine Assisted Psychotherapy and Equine Assisted Learning are offered year-round, weather permitting. Learn more at the center’s Website HERE.

For additional inquiries or to volunteer, contact Flanagan at StarsAndStridesTEC@gmail.com.