Can you believe that Thanksgiving is only next week? It seems just like yesterday that Americans nationwide were celebrating Halloween. Now friends and families are prepping for gatherings, getting ready to purchase food this weekend for the big turkey day. Christmas will be here in a blink of an eye and then 2016 will invade our calendars and smartphones. Around this time of the year, the holidays hit us fast and hard and it does not seem like we have a lot of time to smell the flowers so to speak. We want to use this blog to give thanks. After all, Thanksgiving is right around that corner. At Deer Creek Structures, we are thankful for horses. That might not be much of a surprise, is it?
Over the year, we have written a lot about what horses do for us, whether we are talking about equine therapy helping people get through some tough times, such as veterans, or how the presence of horses in our lives simply makes us appreciate the beautiful world that God has created. Let us look at how equine therapy is having an impact in the lives of recovering addicts.
The Rocky Mountain Treatment Center in Montana “believes that successful addiction treatment requires individualized treatment of the entire person based on a biopsychosocial model of care. This includes physical, emotional, behavioral, family, social, and spiritual needs.”
In some treatments around the country, many overlook the importance of spiritual improvement, but it is a crucial aspect of full recovery. The Rocky Mountain Treatment Center does not ignore that part of the recovery process and one of the tools they use to assist in this is horses. Reporting for the Great Falls Tribune, Jo Dee Black writes, “Horses are a common therapy tool in programs for people with developmental disabilities, such as Eagle Mount, but RMTC’s [sic] is the only facility in Montana using the therapy for addiction treatment.”
The RMTC is breaking new ground and the results are nothing to sneeze at. Since horses are very humanlike, it means that they are emotional like us and can easily form intimate bonds with different kinds of people. This simple emotional bond goes a long way in recalibrating an addict’s spiritual center, forming an emotional foundation for what could very well be the first time in their lives. An important first step in recovery is having a foundation from which you can build a better life. This being the case, you could say that horses are like architects!
The success we see with many equine therapy programs demonstrates the important role that horses have in our lives. For that, we thank them. In what ways will you thank your horses this Thanksgiving? Remember, at Deer Creek Structures, we sell top quality portable horse barns, shed row barns, run in sheds, livestock shelters, and many more. Maybe the best way to thank your horses is making sure they are safe.
We wish you all a happy and safe Thanksgiving holiday!