Premium ContentClick on Premium Content on the Featured navigation bar for information.
SCOTTSBLUFF, Neb. — A new program of the Scotts Bluff County Detention Center is helping to get juvenile offenders on the right path with the help of horses.
Participants in the Equine Assisted Behavior Modification Therapy Program learn new ways to communicate and get what they need from the horses in a nonviolent manner and incorporate that approach in their everyday lives.
Ron Johns, Scotts Bluff County Detention Center Director, said to the best of his knowledge the program is not practiced anywhere else in the United States in a short-term facility.
“You can’t force change, but there is a bond between the horses and kids that brings about change,” Johns said. “It has proven to be a win-win situation for everyone.”
Numerous studies have shown that working with horses can be effective in treating a wide range of conditions, such as anxiety, autism, dementia, depression and attention-deficit disorder, as well as eating disorders.
Copyright ©2012 Omaha World-Herald®. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, displayed or redistributed for any purpose without permission from the Omaha World-Herald.
