This May, Topfield Center is taking part in the Horses for Mental Health campaign with the goal of raising $5,000 to support scholarships for our GRIT (Grounding Resilience In Training) programs and Equine-Assisted Mental Health Therapy services — and to help care for the horses who make this work possible.
In our Mental Health Therapy sessions, clients engage in creative arts and equine-assisted work designed to reduce anxiety, strengthen coping skills, and support healing from trauma, recovery challenges, and everyday stress. Sometimes that looks like grooming quietly in the barn. Sometimes it’s an art activity after time in the arena. Sometimes it’s simply talking. The horses have a way of helping people feel grounded, present, and understood.
We are proud to have expanded our GRIT program over the past year to support not only veterans, but also kids and teens, as well as people in recovery. In GRIT, participants meet in small groups of 4–8 with our horse experts and a licensed social worker to learn horse care, grooming, handling, and communication. As they practice reading a horse’s body language and regulating their own emotions, they build confidence, self-awareness, and resilience. What starts as learning to lead a horse often becomes learning how to steady yourself.
Funds raised will go directly toward making these services more accessible to individuals through our scholarship program. Donations will also support the ongoing care of our horses — including feed, veterinary care, farrier visits, and the daily attention that keeps them healthy and able to do this important work.
$25 covers the horse handler fee for a GRIT or therapy session–this keeps everyone safe, including the equine
$50 pays for a week of care for Doc, our donkey who we frequently use in therapy sessions
$100 covers a farrier visit for one horse used in our mental health programs
$175 covers a one-on-one equine-assisted therapy session with a licensed mental health professional for a client in need
$500 covers two months of hay and feed for one of the equines used in our mental health programs
