Andy Ouriel | Sandusky Register
MARGARETTA TWP. — Kendra Didion understands the power horses possess in helping humans heal from their trauma.
“Whatever someone is struggling with — sexual abuse, physical abuse, mental abuse, addiction or something else — we work here to help them,” Didion said.
Didion, a licensed independent chemical dependency counselor and a licensed independent social worker, owns and operates Healing Trails in Castalia.
“Over the past 18 years, Healing Trails has provided mental health and addiction counseling services,” Didion said. “Our staff’s background encompasses military trauma treatment, addiction services along with many others and operates in a non-traditional setting that sets us apart, helping to best meet your needs.”
By “non-traditional setting,” she’s referring to equine-assisted therapy at her recently revamped 24-acre property — now featuring a covered 104-by-60-foot barn. This allows Healing Trails to operate 365 days a year. The covered structure protects clients from outdoor elements.
“The practice of equine-assisted psychotherapy is an up-and-coming practice that incorporates clinical skills of a mental health professional combined with those of an equine specialist, someone trained to work with the horses, to create a unique experience,” according to an agency statement. It’s “to address the many areas of their trauma and hardships they experienced.”
Horses help calm people, Didion said. And when people are around horses, petting or helping them accomplish a certain task, more times than not, people’s minds enter a therapeutic state.
“Most times, people don’t like to talk about their abuse,” Didion said. “By putting people out in nature and around horses, it can help them cope with their trauma in a powerful form of therapy. And when they’re near a 1,200-pound horse and realize, ‘Wow, I’m not afraid of things that are maybe are big or powerful like a horse,’ they can overcome a lot.”
The barn also allows Didion to help people through other services, such as physical therapy, occupational therapy and speech pathology.
People going through Healing Trails’ programs, Didion said, become more self-confident, empowered, better communicators and cope easier with issues relating to trust, anxiety and assertiveness, Didion said.
“I grew up in an alcoholic home with a lot of struggles and barriers, so I felt like if I can overcome a lot of things, get my master’s and start a private practice, then I can help others who don’t have the same tools I do,” Didion said. “I want them to know, anyone who comes here, they can break their own cycle of addiction or trauma. I will help them.”