COLORADO SPRINGS — Many active duty military members, veterans, and their families have access to different mental health resources here in Colorado Springs.
But this one is a little different… with the help of some four-legged friends.
"You can't lie to a horse and horses don't lie," Jeanee Springer, Co-Founder and Program Director of Remount Foundation, which she started with her husband.
The Remount Foundation is a non-profit that helps our military community and their families with depression, PTSD, and other mental health issues at no cost.
The program started in 2009, and since then the foundation has helped more than 16,000 people.
"The horses and their physiology and their behavioral impact. And then caring people that are a part of the pod, and it makes people feel safe. You know, it brings out the ability for them to process things and think more clearly," said Springer.
Michael Dolan got out of the Army in 2020. It was then that he learned how the Remount Foundation and horse therapy could help him during tough times.
"For some reason, when I'm around horses, my anxiety tends to ease up a lot. I suffer from insomnia. When I come, especially that day, I tend to sleep so much better at night, so I get that relaxation part of it. It really helps me unwind and kind of just let go of the problems that I'm currently facing," he said.
He tells News5 when the veteran community comes together at the ranch, they can heal together.
"A lot of us veterans feel that we have to be very strong and kind of not show weakness. It's nice to come to a program where everyone is in the same boat. We both have those struggles, and you have those people that are there for you, and they don't judge you, and they help you move along and grow," said Dolan.
Jeanee tells me this program is more than a job for her, and she's not planning to quit on this community she's built.
"I'm a military spouse. This is my family, this is my community. Healing is hard work. Healing from those traumas is hard, and it takes facing the realness of it, and to become vulnerable. But by the same token, they will often say, 'Why didn't I do this? Why was I so afraid?' So it is amazing to be able to watch that."
For information on the Remount Foundation, click here.
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