Healing Hoof Steps offers mental and behavioral health therapy

CRESTVIEW — Healing Hoof Steps, a fairly new equine therapy group, recently demonstrated its services for Okaloosa County's Veterans Court administrators.

County Judge Angela Mason, who presides over Veteran's Court program, an officer from the Okaloosa County Sheriff's Office and administrators from the Department of Veterans Affairs attended the session.

Located in Crestview, Healing Hoof Steps offers assisted therapy and learning services to anyone suffering from mental and behavioral health issues.

That type of therapy is unusual to the area.

Affiliated with Equine Assisted Growth and Learning Association, Healing Hoof Steps uses a combination of activities with the horses and communication with a licensed mental health counselor to help clients work through their issues to find effective solutions.

"Instead of sitting in an office with bad paint and bad wallpaper talking about your feelings for an hour, you actually come out and work with a therapist in the arena outside with the horses," said Narissa Jenkins, founder of Healing Hoof Steps.

Jenkins refers to that type of therapy as "experiential."

"Especially when it comes to veterans dealing with (post-traumatic stress disorder), there's not as much talking," Jenkins said. "A lot of it's more doing and finding ways to work through anxiety and depression."

The horses at Healing Hoof Steps are used to help clients with emotional growth, Jenkins said.

"It creates a unique learning environment," Jenkins said. "Sometimes you see a reflection of yourself in the horse. It's pretty powerful stuff."

Jenkins started Healing Hoof Steps in 2014 after a long career in business marketing.

She noticed a therapeutic quality in her horse, Saideira, and began researching the benefits of that type of therapy.

After moving back to Fort Walton Beach, Jenkins said it was a "no brainer" that she would have her own therapy facility because the area was lacking in something like that.

For more information the therapy services offered at Healing Hoof Steps, call 850-764-1005 or visit its website, www.healinghoofsteps.org.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Healing Hoof Steps offers mental and behavioral health therapy