Lockwood Park’s horse-assisted psychotherapy program benefits more than 100 youngsters

ROCKFORD, Ill. (WTVO) — A program at Lockwood Park is using horses to address the social, emotional, and behavioral struggles of youth and teens.

The $4 million Perks Family Equine Center was completed last year and has had programs running since July.

Staff said more than 100 kids had benefitted from the program so far.

The Equine Assisted Services program includes activities that use horses to help participants learn foundational emotional and social skills to enhance their interpersonal relationships.

According to the program, horses have a natural ability to pick up on human emotions and are patient and attuned to their environment. This allows the animals to detect and mirror human moods.

The curriculum includes horse observation, interaction, and handling to improve a participant’s resilience and self-management, relationship skill-building, and increase their social and emotional awareness.

“We created our programs for individuals who are struggling with anything from anxiety, depression, trauma, PTSD, substance use, substance abuse, to anyone who just needs to belong, or have some friendship or camaraderie, or feel like they’re allowed to take up space in an environment,” said program manager Kayla Tilly.

Programs and services that are a part of the project can be found here.