Experiencing freedom

ALBANY, Ohio — "Lessons learned and experiences received in the corners of Seneca County are spreading far and wide in a quest of calming fears, finding peace and building resiliency one moment at a time with the aid of gentle horses sharing their gifts." That's how Tiffin native Pamela Nielsen Jeffers described her equine counseling center in Athens County. Jeffers, who co-owns Natural Freedom Wellness Center of Albany with her husband, Robert Jeffers, was prompted to share her story after a photo of their horse, Babe – also a Tiffin native – was featured in a Washington Post story titled "One school's solution to the mental health crisis: Try everything," (www.washingtonpost.com/education/2023/04/28/school-mental-health-crisis-ohio/?itid=ap_donnast.george). Part of the story included the equine-assisted learning and therapy program, which is assisting students with post-COVID mental health concerns. Natural Freedom Wellness Center was created and founded by Jeffers, daughter of Nancy and Donald Nielsen and granddaughter of George and Evelyn Ross, Tiffin Jr. Home alumni. The center operates on a farm about 30 minutes from Nelsonville that's been in her husband's family for five generations. Babe was originally owned by Steve Cholodewitsch, who donated the horse to Natural Freedom after her show days were over. "Babe is well known in the Tiffin horse community as a kindhearted mare that provided many Seneca County youth the experience of learning horsemanship and showing at the Seneca County Fair," Jeffers said. She continues her gift of love and kindness now that she's retired from her 4-H and show career. Jeffers and Cholodewitsch grew up together, showing at fairs in their youth and attending First Lutheran Church together. "The beginnings of this journey looked different than it does today," Jeffers said. "However, it began with a program called Hope on Horseback founded by Elinor Spellerberg, a longtime Tiffin resident and equine advocate in many ways." Jeffers' horse, Penny, was one of the first horses to be a part of the program in the 1970s, and she said the volunteer experience was so powerful that she went on to model her master's thesis on it in the 1980s while attending Ohio University. "That was a pretty profound experience for me as a teen," she said. "Back then, in the '70s, it was mostly physical. It was therapeutic riding." Seeing the sense of freedom experienced by people in wheelchairs when they were on the backs of horses impacted her greatly. "The horse's legs took them where they couldn't go themselves," she said. Jeffers said she started college with the intention of working in the field and transferred from the University of Toledo to Ohio University when she learned OU had a program that more closely matched her career goals. There she met her husband and decided to stay in that area. She graduated from OU with a bachelor's degree in recreation therapy and a master's degree in recreational management. As she started her career, Jeffers carried on and expanded Spellerberg's tradition when she and Robert opened Natural Freedom Wellness Center 17 years ago. The center has eight horses, plus two minis, and partners with Hopewell Health Centers to provide counseling services. Jeffers described the program as "an equine-assisted counseling service," which can be adjusted to meet the needs of the people involved. "We do have counselors assigned here through Hopewell," she said. The field of equine-assisted services and the power of horses healing humans have grown and expanded over the years, she said. In the 1970s, the focus was on therapeutic riding and assistance in finding freedom by overcoming physical conditions. Today, she said there is much research that provides evidence of a horse's ability to aid in calming the nervous system, regulating emotions and teaching life skills needed to overcome mental health concerns. For example, the program featured by The Washington Post is an after-school personal development program for students, which includes character development and life skills, funded by a grant through Ohio University. "We've been involved in that for a number of years," Jeffers said. "The school partnered with us to include our services. We hauled horses and provided coping skills, quieting their bodies, learning different breathing techniques and how to slow our body down and become good friends with a horse." At the farm, the center works with individuals ages 3 through adulthood where center personnel meet with counselors and develop goals for individuals. "The horses help to meet some of the treatment goals," Jeffers said. "Equine assistance services is a pretty extensive umbrella, depending on the goals." Jeffers said 95% of the program is based on behavioral health and mental health issues. "We typically get youth when the office setting has not been successful," she said. Using activities with the horses, she said individuals work on impulse control, creating a gap between thought and action, how to ask for appropriate boundaries and mental regulation. "It's deeply rooted in neuroscience research," Jeffers said. Using the teachings of neuroscientist Bruce Perry, she said the program works with people whose brain stems have not developed properly because of trauma or other reasons. "We work to calm down their brain stem and give them skills to reach the higher level of their thinking," Jeffers said. "People think you're kind of playing with ponies, but there's a lot more to it." She can't share individual stories because she's bound by HIPPA – Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 – which protects patient privacy. "But we have had adults who have shared the impact the program has had on them through local radio stations," she said. Amy's story The family of 12-year-old Amy has opened her story to be told. She has Dravet Syndrome, a rare epilepsy-related disorder. "That family wants the awareness of those symptoms to be known," Jeffers said. "She came to the barn for a speech-therapy program. Amy was not speaking, and so they wanted to get her speech better and her speaking more." When she entered the barn, Amy started talking. "The horses just speak to her and this is her comfort zone," Jeffers said. "Now when she goes to her neurology appointments, they start talking about the horses." Local connection The Jeffers have maintained their local connection. Their daughter, LaTicia, was a scholarship rider for the Tiffin University Equestrian Team. She has worked for Natural Freedom for 10 years as a therapeutic behavioral support provider and the communication director, and now the communication consultant as she pursues a master's degree in social work at the University of Houston. In addition, Jeffers said Natural Freedom has provided some one-day workshops at Heidelberg University. The southern Ohio program is expanding as well. This week, Jeffers said the Natural Wellness model is opening in a new location in Cincinnati. On 10 acres donated by the city of Cincinnati, a new team trained by the Jeffers will offer the program in partnership to people in that city. Under her guidance, the trauma-sensitive equine-assisted learning model she created will be one of seven inner-city programs in the nation. Jeffers said she continues to use her experiences to expand the knowledge she received in her youth in Tiffin to share the healing powers and helping people to find hope with the help of horses. "It's my passion," she said.