Featured Grant Story: Refuge Services

The mission of Refuge Services is to enhance the physical, mental and spiritual functioning of individuals, families and groups. This is achieved by providing opportunities to develop skills for solving problems, overcoming obstacles and reaching individual and group goals through equine-assisted therapeutic activities. Refuge serves a 100-mile radius of Lubbock.

Refuge Services program funds are for children and veterans needing financial needing financial assistance in covering the cost of any one of Refuge Services equine-assisted therapies – Therapeutic Riding (TR), Hippotherapy (HT), and/or Equine-Assisted Psychotherapy (EAP). With program funds available, all clients will have equal opportunity to the therapeutic benefits of the horses no matter what condition or financial limitation.

Through this program, there is an opportunity to aid in the reintegration of soldiers back into their daily life reducing suicide rates, divorce rates, and domestic violence in homes. For children with disabilities, the equine therapy offers a place to improve muscle tone/strength, improve impulse control, work on social skills, reduce anxiety, and improve anger management skills.

Currently, Refuge Services provides equine therapy services for over 150 children and their families per week. The last 8 years have shown great growth for Refuge Services in the field of equine-assisted therapy, and we continue to prepare to meet the growing needs for services for children and families in the Lubbock and surrounding area.

With grants from the Community Foundation of West Texas they are able to use these program funds for children needing financial assistance in covering the cost of any one of Refuge Services’ equine-assisted therapies – Therapeutic Riding, Hippotherapy, and/or Equine-Assisted Psychotherapy. With program funds available, all clients will have equal opportunity to the wonderful therapeutic benefits of the horses no matter what condition or financial limitation.

A portion of these funds will allow Refuge Services to continue providing EAP services to veterans coming back from Iraq/Afghanistan to get counseling AT NO COST. Refuge Services has an opportunity to aid in the reintegration of our soldiers back into their daily life reducing suicide rates, divorce rates and domestic violence in their homes. It is one way we can give back and say thank you for their sacrifices.

To learn more about Refuge Services, please visit them online at www.refugeservices.org, or by visiting their Facebook page.