Turning Winds utilizes a variety of experiential treatment modalities. We use the great outdoors of Montana to combine adventure therapy, experiential education, and psycho-educational therapy. Experiential learning is based on the assumption that lasting change can occur when people are placed outside their familiar comfort environment and immersed in new and somewhat challenging situations.
Interacting with a friendly animal can help with many physical and mental issues. Like physical exercise, it can release endorphins—the brain’s natural feel-good neurotransmitters—producing a calming effect. This can help alleviate pain, reduce stress and anxiety, and improve a person’s overall psychological well-being.
Working with horses is particularly therapeutic and what better area than northwestern Montana to work with horses?
Combing, feeding, riding, and simply observing the horses can help build self-esteem, confidence, and trust in teenage clients. In many cases, they have to overcome an initial hesitancy when it comes to interacting with such a large animal. Still, once they make a connection with the horse, clients learn a lot about themselves and contribute positively to their cognitive, physical, emotional, and social well-being.
By engaging with the horse, individuals learn to trust, be patient, and be in the present moment, all of which contribute to positive mental health benefits. Horses have also been used to help individuals with behavioral issues and are very sensitive to changes in body language and behavior. Working with horses can help individuals learn to be more aware of how they act and affect others, allowing them to develop better communication skills.
There have been quite a few studies demonstrating the efficacy of equine-facilitated therapy and many researchers have come away impressed with the results. “I’ve been working with survivors of childhood abuse for the last 30 years, and I have never seen anything with such immediate benefit to folks who struggle with trauma-related issues,” declared Sherry Winternitz, MD, the clinical director of the Dissociative Disorders and Trauma Programs at the renowned McLean Hospital in Massachusetts after completing an eight-week equine-facilitated psychotherapy program in 2019 with a group of female trauma survivors.
A 2021 Columbia University study showed that equine therapy significantly reduced posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depressive symptoms. “Both PTSD patients and horses are preoccupied with ongoing concerns about trust and safety. This innovative therapy facilitates bonding, overcoming fear, and re-establishing confidence,” said Dr. Yuval Neria, professor of medical psychology (in psychiatry and epidemiology) and director of Columbia’s PTSD program. “One must build trust with a horse for it to warm to you.”
The equine experience at Turning Winds includes more than just the horses themselves. Participating in ranch work can also be rewarding. Cleaning barns and stables as well as tending to the horses offer experiences that allow clients to experience trust and teamwork. Working with farm animals and doing ranch work can have a strong therapeutic effect. It’s purposeful service work, not just passing time. The ranch animals appreciate being fed and caring for living creatures can be an intuitive way of cultivating a life of purpose.
Many of the adolescent clients at Turning Winds experience anxiety, depression, and unresolved trauma. Working with horses is only one element of our comprehensive care for mental health and substance misuse issues.
Traditionally, many treatment programs focus on one particular aspect. “They would specialize in the treatment of trauma resolution, or they would specialize in substance use,” says clinical director Jared Sartell, LCSW. “What Turning Winds does really well is we create a cross-section of what the general population would be. That specialization can allow you to provide really good treatment for that thing within that environment.”
Our adolescent clients learn how to correctly perceive and purposefully engage with the world around them. The program’s holistic approach, relational focus, and emphasis on achieving authentic openness make Turning Winds especially effective at facilitating positive outcomes and long-term change.
Therapeutic approaches—many particular to the Turning Winds boarding school environment—include character education, wellness of body and mind, outdoor experiential education, evidence-based clinical care, and academic success, along with continuously improving each aspect of our therapeutic program through measuring outcomes in each area. Together, these constitute what we call the “Five Pillars of Change.”
At Turning Winds, the mission is to rescue teens from crises, renew their belief in their potential, reunite them with their families, and put them on a sustainable path to success. Contact us online for more information, or call us at 800-845-1380. If your call isn’t answered personally, one of us will get back to you as soon as possible.
