Healing Hearts: Therapy Animals Creating Comfort

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Soul Friends, Inc

Soul Friends, Inc. fosters healing and growth through equine-assisted therapy, empowering individuals and communities to create a compassionate world. We connect people with horses to promote emotional well-being and resilience.

Join us for an unforgettable evening where compassion meets celebration. On Friday, October 16th, 2026, Soul Friends invites you to An Evening Under the Stars at the beautiful TPC River Highlands Country Club in Cromwell, Connecticut. As we celebrate nearly 25 years of transforming lives through the healing power of the human-animal bond, guests will enjoy an elegant dinner, inspiring stories of hope and resilience, live and silent auctions, and the opportunity to help shape the future of innovative mental health programs. Together, we will honor a remarkable milestone&mdash;more than 10,000 children, adults, veterans, first responders, and families served&mdash;while investing in the next generation of life-changing animal-assisted psychotherapy, humane education, and equine-assisted services. Every ticket purchased helps ensure that healing continues, one wagging tail, gentle nuzzle, and compassionate connection at a time. &nbsp;CASH ONLY bar for guests.&nbsp;Tickets: $75 Friday, October 16, 2026 | 6:00&ndash;9:00 PM TPC River Highlands Country Club | Cromwell, CTHealing hearts of thousands with the power of a wagging tail. Join us under the stars and become part of the next chapter of the Soul Friends story.&nbsp;

Evening Under the Stars - Soul Friends Gala

Ponies and Pilates bring gentle movement together with time in the barn 🐴 to support the emotional well-being of children and families. Join up with our therapy horses to improve your wellness. Enjoy pastries, mimosas, and community. Your participation helps Soul Friends, Inc. provide animal‑assisted therapy for kids coping with trauma and special needs. Register below to save your spot for this relaxed session, enjoy mindful Pilates, and meet the ponies who help our clients build trust, confidence, and calm. 🧘&zwj;♀️

Ponies and Pilates

Medical trauma among women with long COVID, ME/CFS, and children with PANDAS is frequently intensified not only by the severity of their physical symptoms but also by the systemic invalidation that accompanies their attempts to seek care. These populations experience high multisystem symptom burdens&mdash;autonomic instability, pain, fatigue, neurocognitive disruption, and immune dysregulation&mdash;yet their reports are often reframed as anxiety, somatization, or caregiver overinvolvement. Women and medically complex patients are &ldquo;traumatized by not being believed, not being listened to, and not being treated as reliable narrators of their own bodies,&rdquo; a pattern that constitutes epistemic injustice and institutional betrayal. This dynamic is especially pronounced in conditions that disproportionately affect women or remain poorly understood, where clinicians may prematurely psychologize symptoms, minimize suffering, or default to functional or psychiatric explanations before adequate medical evaluation has occurred. For children with PANDAS, caregivers&rsquo; observations of complex psychobiological changes are sometimes misinterpreted through the lens of pediatric condition falsification, creating profound family-wide fear and trauma. The cumulative effect of dismissal, misdiagnosis, and fragmented care contributes to moral injury, dissociation, and erosion of trust in healthcare systems. Patients and caregivers often develop hypervigilance, guardedness, or withdrawal from care&mdash;not as pathology, but as adaptive responses to repeated invalidation. Social workers hold a critical ethical role in interrupting these cycles. Their training in trauma, systems, and narrative humility positions them to validate embodied knowledge, provide psychoeducation about medical trauma and nervous system responses, and advocate within healthcare settings to prevent further harm. By centering epistemic dignity, supporting regulation, and challenging dismissive or biased clinical practices, social workers help restore safety, voice, and agency for individuals and families navigating complex illness and systemic invalidation.

A Clinical Model for Addressing Medical Invalidation and Trauma

<img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/hxn9dbuhd/image/upload/v1774010591/wysiwyg/yx3svnetranjroigixde.jpg" style="width: 600px; display: block; vertical-align: top; margin: 5px auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; padding: 0px 1px; user-select: none; max-width: 100%; position: relative; box-sizing: inherit;" fr-original-style="width: 600px; display: block; vertical-align: top; margin: 5px auto; text-align: center;" fr-original-class="fr-draggable">Reading with Horses: Inspiring Confidence&nbsp; 📚🐴 invites children to slow down, breathe, and share stories alongside gentle horses. Together, we create a calm space where reading feels safe, supported, and even a little magical. By registering, you help Soul Friends, Inc. carry out its mission to support children&rsquo;s mental health through the human&ndash;animal bond. Reserve a 15-minute spot for a child to read, connect, and grow in confidence with our therapy horses and professional staff.

Reading with Mini Horses: Inspiring Confidence

🎉 Sip, celebrate the&nbsp; mission of animal assisted therapy programs.&nbsp; Excitement is in the air! Get ready to be part of something extraordinary at Soul Friends, Inc&#39;s fundraising event. It&#39;s an event like no other, and we want you to be there! 🎉&nbsp; Celebrate the music of Hanz Heroes! Every registration to this event will bring us closer to achieving our mission&mdash;and includes a beer ticket. Enjoy music from Hanz Heroes!&nbsp;&nbsp; Together, we can create a brighter, more compassionate world for all. Thank you for supporting our mission; your support is invaluable.

Paws n Pints

🌟 Join us in CELEBRATING THE YEAR OF THE FIRE HORSE!At Soul Friends, Inc, we know that change starts with people like you. Every act of kindness, every dollar, and every moment of your time brings us closer to achieving our mission. Together, we can create a brighter, more compassionate world for all. How you can help power our mission:<ol fr-original-style="" style="width: 100%; box-sizing: inherit;"><li fr-original-style="" style="box-sizing: inherit;">Donate: Every dollar counts&mdash;horses eat a lot of hay! Contribute now to help us reach our goal.<img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/hxn9dbuhd/image/upload/v1771364617/wysiwyg/ldzegkfeg4pgmfaafdjz.jpg" style="width: 600px; display: block; vertical-align: top; margin: 5px auto; text-align: center; position: relative; max-width: 100%; cursor: pointer; padding: 0px 1px; user-select: none; box-sizing: inherit;" fr-original-style="width: 600px; display: block; vertical-align: top; margin: 5px auto; text-align: center;" fr-original-class="fr-draggable"></li><li fr-original-style="" style="box-sizing: inherit;">Share: Share our campaign with your friends, family, and on social media. Your advocacy can amplify our impact.</li><li fr-original-style="" style="box-sizing: inherit;">Volunteer: Your time and skills can make an impact too.</li></ol>Thank you for supporting our mission; your support is invaluable for people and animals

🌟 Join us in CELEBRATING THE YEAR OF THE FIRE HORSE!At Soul Friends, Inc, we know that change starts with people like you. Every act of kindness, every dollar, and every moment of your time brings us closer to achieving our mission. Together, we can create a brighter, more compassionate world for all.How you can help power our mission:Donate: Every dollar counts—horses eat a lot of hay! Contribute now to help us reach our goal.Share: Share our campaign with your friends, family, and on social media. Your advocacy can amplify our impact.Volunteer: Your time and skills can make an impact too.Thank you for supporting our mission; your support is invaluable for people and animals

YEAR OF THE FIRE HORSE HAY DRIVE

SOUL FRIENDS CAPITAL CAMPAIGNHealing the Hearts of 10,000&hellip; Help Us Heal 10,000 More&mdash;Give a Paws Up!<img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/hxn9dbuhd/image/upload/v1780581837/wysiwyg/hx185jqyj3ojhxbhmiez.jpg" style="width: 181px; display: block; vertical-align: top; margin: 5px auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; padding: 0px 1px; user-select: none; max-width: 100%; position: relative; box-sizing: inherit;" fr-original-style="width: 181px; display: block; vertical-align: top; margin: 5px auto; text-align: center;" fr-original-class="fr-draggable"> When a child sits beside one of our therapy animals, something shifts.Shoulders relax. Breathing slows. Words come easier. Hope returns.For more than two decades, Soul Friends has helped over 10,000 children, adults, veterans, first responders, and families find healing through the extraordinary bond between people and animals.Every day, our therapy horses, dogs, rabbits, goats, and other animal partners provide comfort, connection, and clinically guided support for individuals facing trauma, grief, anxiety, chronic illness, disability, and life&#39;s most difficult challenges.But healing takes a team.Our Goal: $23,000Help us care for the animals who make healing possible.Your gift supports:🐴 Hay, feed, and daily care for our equine partners🐶 Training for both ends of the leash&mdash;ensuring excellence, safety, and ethical animal-assisted therapy🩺 Veterinary and wellness care to keep every therapy animal healthy, comfortable, and ready to serve❤️ Sustainable support for the animals who touch hundreds of lives every monthBecause Every Healing Story Begins SomewhereA child finds the courage to speak.A veteran feels understood.A grieving family discovers hope.A woman living with chronic illness feels seen.A teenager learns they are not alone.These moments happen because of the animals&mdash;and because of people like you.Help Us Heal 10,000 More HeartsDonate &bull; Share &bull; Sponsor &bull; AdvocateTogether, we can ensure that the healing power of animals remains available to those who need it most.SOUL FRIENDSWhere Animals Help Hearts HealCapital Campaign Goal: $23,000📞 203-679-0849📧 jean@soulfriendsct.org🌐 https://www.soul-friends.orgEvery gift helps provide compassionate care for the animals who provide compassionate care for others

SOUL FRIENDS CAPITAL CAMPAIGNHealing the Hearts of 10,000… Help Us Heal 10,000 More—Give a Paws Up!When a child sits beside one of our therapy animals, something shifts.Shoulders relax. Breathing slows. Words come easier. Hope returns.For more than two decades, Soul Friends has helped over 10,000 children, adults, veterans, first responders, and families find healing through the extraordinary bond between people and animals.Every day, our therapy horses, dogs, rabbits, goats, and other animal partners provide comfort, connection, and clinically guided support for individuals facing trauma, grief, anxiety, chronic illness, disability, and life's most difficult challenges.But healing takes a team.Our Goal: $23,000Help us care for the animals who make healing possible.Your gift supports:🐴 Hay, feed, and daily care for our equine partners🐶 Training for both ends of the leash—ensuring excellence, safety, and ethical animal-assisted therapy🩺 Veterinary and wellness care to keep every therapy animal healthy, comfortable, and ready to serve❤️ Sustainable support for the animals who touch hundreds of lives every monthBecause Every Healing Story Begins SomewhereA child finds the courage to speak.A veteran feels understood.A grieving family discovers hope.A woman living with chronic illness feels seen.A teenager learns they are not alone.These moments happen because of the animals—and because of people like you.Help Us Heal 10,000 More HeartsDonate • Share • Sponsor • AdvocateTogether, we can ensure that the healing power of animals remains available to those who need it most.SOUL FRIENDSWhere Animals Help Hearts HealCapital Campaign Goal: $23,000📞 203-679-0849📧 jean@soulfriendsct.org🌐 https://www.soul-friends.orgEvery gift helps provide compassionate care for the animals who provide compassionate care for others

Honor our 23 years of healing - help us serve 10,00 more

The 4 A Framework Post Master&rsquo;s Certification, approved for 14 CEU by CT Certification Board, and NASW approved&nbsp; deepens your clinical skills in animal assisted psychotherapy and nature-based care. Learn to safely integrate horses, dogs, and the natural environment into trauma‑ and attachment‑informed practice for children, families, young adults, veterans, and first responders. Grounded in Soul Friends, Inc.&rsquo;s 20-year history, this program blends research, case examples, and ethical guidelines so you can offer compassionate, evidence‑informed interventions that honor the healing bond between humans, animals, and nature.

The 4 A Framework Post Master’s Certification, approved for 14 CEU by CT Certification Board, and NASW approved deepens your clinical skills in animal assisted psychotherapy and nature-based care. Learn to safely integrate horses, dogs, and the natural environment into trauma‑ and attachment‑informed practice for children, families, young adults, veterans, and first responders.Grounded in Soul Friends, Inc.’s 20-year history, this program blends research, case examples, and ethical guidelines so you can offer compassionate, evidence‑informed interventions that honor the healing bond between humans, animals, and nature.

Soul Friends, Inc

Past events

Past events

Evening Under the Stars - Soul Friends Gala

Ponies and Pilates

A Clinical Model for Addressing Medical Invalidation and Trauma

Reading with Mini Horses: Inspiring Confidence

Paws n Pints

More ways to support us

YEAR OF THE FIRE HORSE HAY DRIVE

Donate today

Honor our 23 years of healing - help us serve 10,00 more

Donate today

The 4 A Framework: Post Master's Certification in Animal Assisted Psychotherapy and Nature Therapy

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