Horses Healing Children with Trauma
Tax deductible
Team Velvet, Inc. is a non-profit 501(c)3 equine facilitated therapy program providing effective psychological counseling for children with trauma, often at little or no cost to the family. Our program is funded solely through grants and donations and fully staffed by tireless volunteers. As a member of the Board of Directors, I am asking for your help.
YOU Can Make a Difference in the Life of a Child
The continued success of Team Velvet depends on generous contributors like you. We are in urgent need of funds by the end of the year to ensure we will be able to cover our expenses. Your donation provides therapy scholarships for children and to feed and care for our therapy horses. Your dollars can help to heal a child's heart and mind, one smile at a time.
Our Horses Perform in the Arena of a Child's Heart
Each day there is a child who experiences the death of a loved one, witnesses violence, is victimized by crime or intense bullying, disfigured by an accident, or other countless events - all resulting in severe childhood trauma. Research has shown that traumatic experiences that occur during childhood can have lasting effects into adulthood. Through an interactive therapy program with our horses and a licensed psychologist, the children gain trust, bond with their horse partners, build resiliency and learn coping skills to overcome adverse events. Learn more about our program here.
Can You Put a Price on Healing?
The joy and love returning to a child’s heart through healing therapy is priceless, but it comes at a cost. In today’s healthcare environment, standard mental health therapy for children can cost tens of thousands of dollars. Often insurance coverage limits the duration or type of treatment, resulting in poor outcomes for these traumatized children. Our mission is to heal the child, not to make a profit. Alternative programs such as ours are often more effective than traditional office-based treatment but are not covered by health insurance.
Horses are proven therapy partners but they are expensive to keep. With our herd of three horses, the annual budget for Team Velvet for facility rental, liability insurance, feeding, routine care and administrative costs is over $50,000 per year. Every penny we raise goes towards covering our expenses so none of our families will need to pay for their sessions.
Horses are Powerful Therapy Partners
Having been around horses since I was a child, I have personally experienced the transcendent power that a relationship with one can have over your emotional well-being. But even more amazing is that they have a way of helping those who have never even touched a horse before. As therapy partners, horses offer a special combination of resources. Intelligence, physical power and keen emotional intuitiveness are some of the attributes that make a horse a good helper. While horses have been helping physically handicapped individuals for years, most applications in mental health have been within the past twenty years. Today, equine facilitated therapy is one of the fastest growing areas of mental health in the world, with much focus on veterans and at-risk teens. Over and over again we too have witnessed the transformation of the traumatized children in our program as they learn to feel joy again, allow love into their hearts, and to hope for the future.
Our Hope for the Future
We are currently leasing a farm in Raritan Township, NJ but hope to make it the permanent home of Team Velvet, Inc. and establish a regional treatment center for child trauma. We hope to train other mental health professionals and horses to carry on our mission of healing to every child who needs it. We recognize the trend towards trauma-informed care throughout the medical community and through outreach and education we are hoping to build an acceptance of alternative therapy such as ours as part of what is considered best practices in treating child trauma, because it really works. We need a benefactor to help us purchase our farm or donation of a suitable facility so we can make this hope a reality.
Thank you for helping to build a legacy of love that lasts a lifetime.
YOU Can Make a Difference in the Life of a Child
The continued success of Team Velvet depends on generous contributors like you. We are in urgent need of funds by the end of the year to ensure we will be able to cover our expenses. Your donation provides therapy scholarships for children and to feed and care for our therapy horses. Your dollars can help to heal a child's heart and mind, one smile at a time.
Our Horses Perform in the Arena of a Child's Heart
Each day there is a child who experiences the death of a loved one, witnesses violence, is victimized by crime or intense bullying, disfigured by an accident, or other countless events - all resulting in severe childhood trauma. Research has shown that traumatic experiences that occur during childhood can have lasting effects into adulthood. Through an interactive therapy program with our horses and a licensed psychologist, the children gain trust, bond with their horse partners, build resiliency and learn coping skills to overcome adverse events. Learn more about our program here.
Can You Put a Price on Healing?
The joy and love returning to a child’s heart through healing therapy is priceless, but it comes at a cost. In today’s healthcare environment, standard mental health therapy for children can cost tens of thousands of dollars. Often insurance coverage limits the duration or type of treatment, resulting in poor outcomes for these traumatized children. Our mission is to heal the child, not to make a profit. Alternative programs such as ours are often more effective than traditional office-based treatment but are not covered by health insurance.
Horses are proven therapy partners but they are expensive to keep. With our herd of three horses, the annual budget for Team Velvet for facility rental, liability insurance, feeding, routine care and administrative costs is over $50,000 per year. Every penny we raise goes towards covering our expenses so none of our families will need to pay for their sessions.
Horses are Powerful Therapy Partners
Having been around horses since I was a child, I have personally experienced the transcendent power that a relationship with one can have over your emotional well-being. But even more amazing is that they have a way of helping those who have never even touched a horse before. As therapy partners, horses offer a special combination of resources. Intelligence, physical power and keen emotional intuitiveness are some of the attributes that make a horse a good helper. While horses have been helping physically handicapped individuals for years, most applications in mental health have been within the past twenty years. Today, equine facilitated therapy is one of the fastest growing areas of mental health in the world, with much focus on veterans and at-risk teens. Over and over again we too have witnessed the transformation of the traumatized children in our program as they learn to feel joy again, allow love into their hearts, and to hope for the future.
Our Hope for the Future
We are currently leasing a farm in Raritan Township, NJ but hope to make it the permanent home of Team Velvet, Inc. and establish a regional treatment center for child trauma. We hope to train other mental health professionals and horses to carry on our mission of healing to every child who needs it. We recognize the trend towards trauma-informed care throughout the medical community and through outreach and education we are hoping to build an acceptance of alternative therapy such as ours as part of what is considered best practices in treating child trauma, because it really works. We need a benefactor to help us purchase our farm or donation of a suitable facility so we can make this hope a reality.
Thank you for helping to build a legacy of love that lasts a lifetime.
Organizer
Kathy Piparo
Organizer
Flemington, NJ
Team Velvet Inc
Registered nonprofit
Donations are typically 100% tax deductible in the US.
