Nancy Payne

My name is Nancy Payne, and I am a Trauma and Attachment-Focused therapist in New York City. I am proud to be selected as an Ambassador for the Horses for Mental Health 2026 fund-raising campaign. Horses for Mental Health is a global charity that supports equine-assisted learning and healing, and facilitates the unique and powerful equine-human healing connection.  The Tula Vida Foundation in Costa Rica has been selected to join the Horses for Mental health Campaign in 2026 and I am raising funds to support their mission. The equine-supported healing retreats at Tula Vida are conducted with the highest standards of respect and care for their equine and human participants, and provide a beautiful and nature-filled environment to support the exceptional healing work conducted by retreat leaders and facilitators. This campaign will provide funds for the creation of scholarships to assist people who might not otherwise be able to participate in these retreats due to funding constraints.

Supporting Horses for Mental Health is meaningful to me personally because it expands access to this deeply potent modality, particularly for individuals who may not respond to or have access to conventional mental health care. Over the past eight years I have been fortunate to be a recipient of equine-supported healing work, and I experienced firsthand how powerful the human–horse connection can be in facilitating emotion regulation, presence, and trust. Horses have powerful communication capacities that utilize their resonance with the human heart and nervous system. They can respond to nonverbal cues with remarkable sensitivity, offering immediate, honest feedback that creates trust and strengthens emotion regulation capacities. Horses help their human counterparts access deeper layers of experience safely and organically; because of the unfettered, non-judgmental support they provide, the capacity to facilitate these experiences goes beyond traditional talk therapy. My connection with the members of the healing herd at Tula Vida has stayed with me for many years and I would be proud to provide a pathway for others to access and experience this powerful, often life-changing healing work.

Thank you for your kind attention.