When Kelsey Herman began using horses in therapy, she never expected the idea to grow into a full-time operation with a six-therapist team, a growing waitlist and plans for another potential expansion.
Herman, founder of Healing Steps Equine Centered Therapy in Brush Prairie, has a doctorate in occupational therapy. She grew up around horses. During graduate school, she began incorporating hippotherapy — the use of a horse’s movement as a treatment tool by a licensed occupational, physical or speech therapist — into school projects.
“I also was born into a horse family, so a lot of horses since I was born,” Herman said. “And basically in grad school they teach you the foundations you need to be a good therapist, but then also do a lot of encouraging you to think outside of the box.”
After graduating, Herman worked at a local pediatric clinic. There, she began seeing ways a horse could provide therapeutic opportunities that were difficult to recreate in a traditional clinic.
“I started to see kind of how this would be so much better if I had a horse,” Herman said. “I could totally see how, you know, I'm working on this thing in the clinic with a swing or a ball, and I see the value of using a horse for this instead.”
In 2021, with encouragement from the owners of the clinic and a friend who had horses and a barn, Herman decided to give the idea a try. She began by using her friend’s barn and horses while seeing about 10 patients a week outside of her clinic work.
Within six months, Herman recognized another need: making the services accessible to families who could not afford them or whose insurance would not cover the treatment.
“So that's why I started our nonprofit arm to fundraise for that,” Herman said.
The demand quickly grew. Herman eventually sold her house in town, purchased the property where Healing Steps is now located, cleared the land, and built a barn. Two additional therapists were brought on, followed by two more.
The organization now has six therapists.
“And the crazy thing is, our waitlist is back up again,” Herman said. “We're maxed here at this facility, and so we're already shopping and looking to expand again, which is amazing and a little overwhelming, but more than anything, just like, wow, we're doing it.”
Hippotherapy can look different for each patient. Herman said the horse’s movement can be incorporated into exercises designed around individual therapeutic goals.
Healing Steps serves patients across the lifespan, with its youngest current patient age 3 and its oldest in his upper 80s. One older patient with Parkinson’s disease and dementia works on strength, endurance and social interaction while riding. A 7-year-old with ADHD uses riding activities to help regulate his body before completing schoolwork during therapy sessions, Herman explained.
“The horse is a vehicle for working on multiple things at the same time, but the therapist's job is to kind of curate the way that the horse is effective,” Herman said.
Herman said Healing Steps is currently the only full-time facility providing the service in the immediate area, with the next closest facilities to her knowledge in Hillsboro and toward Redmond in the Seattle area.
The organization is fundraising to eventually double its herd size and increase its therapy capacity. Herman also hopes to add a psychologist or counselor and a physical therapist to create a broader care team.
Healing Steps recently started its first group opportunity, a program for teenage to young adult females focused on social skills and building relationships in a therapist-led setting.
The organization also depends heavily on volunteers. Herman said about 50 volunteers currently participate, contributing more than 2,000 hours last year. Volunteers help during therapy sessions, care for horses and maintain the barn. She added that volunteer opportunities are always available.
“They are truly the backbone of what we do because we have anywhere from one to three volunteers per session,” Herman said. “They're why we exist.”
To help support the organization’s next stage of growth, Healing Steps will host its “Hoof Prints for Hope” benefit event from 6 to 9 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 24, at Summit Grove Lodge, 30810 NE Timmen Road in Ridgefield. The fundraiser will include a silent auction, food, drinks and sweet treats, with proceeds supporting accessible hippotherapy in Southwest Washington.
Herman said rising costs for caring for therapy horses, an influx of foster care children seeking services and the organization’s plans to expand are driving the current fundraising effort.
“We have a big influx of foster care kiddos coming to us, which would require more financial support,” Herman said. “We have costs for taking care of the therapy horses is going up astronomically, which is terrifying.”
For Herman, the work represents the combination of a lifelong connection with horses and her career in occupational therapy.
“I get to be in a barn all day with the animals that I love and I'm really passionate about and also super grateful for the things that they've done for me throughout my life,” Herman said. “And then I get to share that with people that need it and that benefit from it.”
Information about Healing Steps, volunteering, referrals and the Oct. 24 fundraiser is available through the organization’s website at healingstepstherapy.org.
