Healing Hoof Steps, an equine assisted therapy non-profit in Crestview, was born out of a daughter’s love for her father. Narissa Jenkins is the daughter of a decorated Vietnam veteran, Maj. Jack A. Weatherford, USAF (Ret) who was a great soldier and family man but endured the effects of PTSD for the rest of his life due to his time at war.
“My dad, who recently passed away, was a huge part of why I did this,” Narissa said. “My dad flew combat rescue missions in Vietnam and if you came out of Vietnam you did not talk about PTSD. In his generation, you did not ask for benefits unless you lost a limb. You suppressed those feelings and memories and carried on. But we know now how that mentality affects entire families. Trauma builds walls around the hearts of everyone it touches; it takes acknowledging those walls and the willingness to work on them to bring them down.”
When Narissa moved back to Northwest Florida in 2015, she decided to leave her career in media and open her own equine-assisted therapy center focused on helping people like her dad and their families heal from trauma in their lives; thus, Healing Hoof Steps was born.
“There was a lot of research being done with veterans’ PTSD and the use of horses to help provide an alternative to traditional mental health treatments,” she said. “There was nothing like this in the Florida Panhandle, yet we have the largest veteran population per capita in the United States.”
Narissa explained that horses have a calming effect on many of their clients as they are experts at reading non-verbal cues, live in the moment and come to humans with open hearts.
“Animals don’t come with any preconceived judgments, so they create this free and open space for people to be vulnerable,” she said. “People are worried about so many things that are out of their control, but horses, as prey animals, can’t live that way or they will not survive. Human depression is linked to things in the past that cannot be changed, and human anxiety is related to all the things in the future that may or may not happen, but horses do not have a concept of time. Equine assisted therapy is learning to follow the horse’s lead and practicing being in control of those emotions involving things we cannot control.”
Since opening, Healing Hoof Steps has grown from its first year serving about 100 therapy hours to serving more than 3,000 therapy hours in 2022. Today there is such a high demand for this unique service that Narissa is having to place clients on a waiting list. Recently, Healing Hoof Steps received funding from Governor Ron DeSantis and the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) to expand access to alternative mental health services with horses in order to serve more clients in Okaloosa County and the surrounding areas.
“The pandemic threw our business into overdrive, and it hasn’t slowed down since,” Narissa said. “We are now in the process of expanding with a plan to add four new private mental health offices with adjoining private pastures for horses. Our Mental Health Outpost Suites and covered arena are projected to be completed before the summer of 2024."
Healing Hoof Steps offers two distinct modalities of healing through horses; Clinical Mental Health Counseling which involves licensed mental health professionals working with clients in ground-based activities with a loose herd of horses, and Holistic Therapeutic Riding Program which is focused on kinesthetic learning to help clients with physical, emotional or developmental challenges work on coordination and core strength through guided riding.
“What makes horses so approachable is that you do not have to communicate using words,” Narissa said. “Some people who come to us have tried traditional therapy but have not found relief. These horses teach by example, they are hyper-vigilant creatures, but they would rather live in peace. The distinct hierarchy of a herd, their social bonds and forgiveness are traits that make them very similar to humans. ”
Dealing with her own grief with the loss of her father recently, Narissa said everyone at Healing Hoof Steps has been so understanding of her own need for time and space to heal.
“My main goal with our programs is to spread the word that it is ok to not be ok,” Narissa said. “It’s not ok to stay in it forever, but you have to recognize that it is ok to ask for help, it is not a sign of weakness. Mental health professionals have the tools to help you work through something you are not familiar with. If you are truly doing mental health for a client’s benefit, you should be constantly trying to put yourself out of business. The whole goal is to get people better and back to their lives until they need us again.”
Now, as the non-profit looks towards expanding, Narissa said she wants everything she does to be in memory of her father, the one who started it all.
“I don’t know how much it helped him, but I know he was proud of me for helping so many people,” Narissa said. “We won the non-profit of the year award from Crestview Chamber for 2023, and that was the most emotional that he had been, knowing that we had been recognized for helping so many people. This place has helped me understand him and the things he went through and it gives me the chance to help others.”
If you would like to get involved with Healing Hoof Steps as a volunteer or to make a donation, please visit www.HealingHoofSteps.org for more information.
“Animals don’t come with any preconceived judgments, so they create this free and open space for people to be vulnerable. People are worried about many things that are out of their control, but horses can't."
