Horse therapy program helping kids and Lowell Police build trust and respect
TEWKSBURY - A program that connects kids, Lowell police officers and therapy horses at a farm is building trust and teaching some valuable lessons.
Through grant money and the police department, the children have been learning how to ride and take care of horses at Strongwater Farm, a therapeutic animal farm in Tewksbury.
The goal is not only for the students to build social and emotional skills while working with the animals, but to build trust with police.
"I'm just hoping to have a great experience, and the kids to have fun ultimately just being here," Lowell Police Superintendent Greg Hudon told WBZ-TV. "When the community trusts us they are more willing to share information, and it builds that transparency that we try to have with our community."
Lessons from horses
The horses at Strongwater Farm go through months of training for their therapy roles.
"We have a number of horses with different characteristics and personalities, and we try to match them with the group they are serving," said Joni Bryan, the farm's executive director. "We talk a lot about boundaries and consent. The horses having their own feelings and space. They are learning things like emotional regulation and really how to relate to an environment."
Two of the kids in the program, Avalysse and Juliana, worked to groom and lead a horse named Becky. Through the program, Juliana said she has learned to be a bit more careful and gracious of her space.
Avalysse grew up around horses in Puerto Rico, and her mother is a 911 dispatcher. Both girls have learned lessons that can carry them through life.
"To not go in my personal bubble, please and thank you, respectfully," Avalysse said.
The horses' "trick"
While WBZ was there, the kids had yet to learn how to ride a horse. That test of trust will happen in the coming days.
"Kids don't have the tools to deal with what we do with the trauma, and the tools to heal ourselves," Bryan said. "What trauma does is it disconnects us from ourselves. [The horses] trick us into reconnecting with our emotions, and we find they are safe. They trick us into reconnecting with trust."