Counsel
Everybody feels “broken” sometimes.
That doesn’t mean you are.
We serve individuals, couple, groups, families, and caregivers, as well as peer support teams, leadership teams, and organizations.
At Operation Equine, counseling is different than the conventional mental health model. The horses are our co-therapists, and they relate with and respond to whomever is in front of them as a unique individual. They can give us insights about ourselves and each other that we might not fully receive in a traditional office setting. We believe that mental health is inseparable from physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being, and we work with people through that perspective, with the invaluable wisdom of our 4-legged counselors.
Adults: It is essential to learn and understand more about ourselves, our challenges, and our symptoms to be able to address and heal them. For instance: PTS/D is real, but your experience of it doesn’t have to be permanent. We partner with you in working towards PTG: Post-Traumatic Growth. We learn to understand where our struggles come from, why we are affected as we are, and what strategies and tools we can utilize to feel better and to relate in a more relaxed, compassionate, and clear manner with our loved ones and colleagues.
Kids: It is also imperative that our children learn how to understand themselves and also their families better from a developmentally appropriate perspective. The more they can learn about feelings - ours as well as their own - the better they will be able to navigate not only their family systems but also their own friendships and relationships, especially in the educational setting.
Train
Trained with Excellence, Served with Excellence.
Tiffany Morgan of Your Weapon is Your Mind and Michelle Kaye of Operation Equine have joined forces to offer Equine Experiential Military Cultural Competence Trainings both locally and nationally to anyone who wants to serve or spend time with this community with more confidence in their knowledge and experience, to better understand how to communicate with, manage, and inspire those they live and work with. Whether you are a mental health provider, a physical health provider, an educator, a family member or caregiver, or employer, we work with staff and with volunteers; we can come to you, or you can come to us in the Denver/Boulder area.
Businesses/Organizations: Veterans and First Responders bring unique skills and talents to any business they work with. Even with the best of intentions, civilian managers may not be able to recognize or draw upon those skills without culturally relevant Professional Development. We also offer specifically-tailored workshops for barns and businesses that have some knowledge of the Military/Veteran, or Emergency Responder culture, but would like to deepen their experience in certain areas.
Connect
“If there is no struggle, there is no progress.”
- Frederick Douglass
In the healing process, there is a time to go quietly within: to self-reflect, and to take time away from others to better gauge one’s own thoughts, feelings, and beliefs, away from the noise of daily life and the “shoulds” and the voices that are not our own.
In the healing process, there is also a time to be in community: to hear the stories of others that make us feel and relate, to celebrate and grieve together, and maybe even a time…when we’re ready…to share our own stories, our own joys and sorrows, our own human messiness, and our own human perfection.
Especially after the last 3 years, it is more important than ever that we allow ourselves to feel what we feel, to share with others our emotions, and to commit to doing that in a healthy way.
Feelings of fear, uncertainty, confusion, anger, and grief… they are all healthy emotions (even though they don’t feel “good”). The KEY is how are you going to express those emotions so that you don’t take it out on yourself, or take it out on your family and loved ones.
Talking with a counselor, therapist, or coach can be the difference between getting triggered out by old emotions and stories in your head and “doing what you’ve always done,” or taking the time to talk things out with an objective, neutral third party and learn different ways of communicating, healthier ways of looking at your thoughts, behaviors, and choices, and ultimately: rewiring your brain to be more of the person you want and choose to be, rather than defaulting to a less mindful state of being.
“Between stimulus AND response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth AND our freedom.”
- VIKTOR E. FRANKEL
Operation Equine’s growing team of therapists, counselors, and coaches are committed to serving our Warriors, Protectors, and Defenders through a variety of therapeutic modalities - both with the horses and without - and we look forward to working together with you through these challenging times.
