Give the Gift of Hope This Holiday Season!
Please help NCEFT raise $150,000 for our Year-End Campaign.
“Dear Belle and Nugget, You are my loyal companions, confidantes, and my friends. I remember the way you responded to my touch, and I felt my heart melting. The day I was haltering you, I felt empowered, strong, and proud. I felt my homeland and connection and the joy of my parents embracing me. Thank you for your countless hours of joy. Thank you for making me feel seen, heard, and understood. Your presence will be missed. Your memory I will treasure. Loving you always, forgetting you never.” – Women’s Cancer Workshop Client Letter to NCEFT’s Horses
Dear Friends and Supporters,
Your enduring friendship and belief in NCEFT’s mission are greatly appreciated. Every day, I see the powerful transformation of hope, healing, and growth through our personalized equine-assisted programs. NCEFT counts on your partnership to help ensure our life-changing services are accessible to those in need. I hope you will consider a gift to help NCEFT reach its $150,000 year-end campaign goal advancing our important programs.
One example of our many impactful Mental Health and Resilience programs is Healing with the Herd, a 10-week women’s cancer resilience workshop. Through horse activities and discussion facilitated by mental health therapists, the women in this workshop, at various stages of their cancer journey, connect through empowerment and healing. While a diverse group in many ways, participants understand and empathize with the common themes they share. Some participants are horse enthusiasts while others have never touched a horse. Imagine the inspiration in reclaiming your body from cancer while partnering with a 1000-pound horse?
Each Healing with the Herd session includes a group discussion, a mindfulness activity, and a clinically designed exercise with the horses. The notion is to keep one’s mind in the present moment utilizing the five senses with the horses and the beautiful outdoors to help people let go of their fears about the past or future and focus on the present. This helps people find peace, calm, gratitude, and connection.
Healing with the Herd participants often describe this workshop as the highlight of their week – a place where for ninety minutes they focus on emotional healing and where epiphanies and insights naturally emerge. The group closes the workshop with a milestone mounted horseback session where participants are given the opportunity to ride the horses they bonded with throughout the workshop.
Healing with the Herd is only one of many programs that facilitate resilience and healing through equine-assisted activities. Your support plays a critical role in advancing all of our programs for clients living with chronic illness, mental health challenges, and physical disabilities.
By working together, we can harness the power of the human-horse connection to create lasting change in our communities.
Wishing you and yours a happy and healthy holiday season!
With gratitude,
Nancy Contro, MSW, LCSW
Executive Director
Did you know that in 2024 NCEFT:
- Conducted more than 4,400 sessions
- Served over 500 clients
- Provided services to 80 veterans and first responders free of charge
- Supported 191 clients with financial assistance
- Fed and cared for 16 professional equine herd members
