Who We Are
Warrior’s Soul is located in Northern California in Lincoln, California. Equine-Assisted Learning and Therapy activities are co-facilitated by the program’s founder and director, Dawn Batti, Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist Kristin Erlec, Certified Alcohol and Drug Counselor II and Certified Life Coach Lacey Wise, and Equine Professional TJ Weiss. You can learn more about them here.
Our program was founded in 2010 with the vision of serving those in service to our country and we’ve worked with this population since our inception. Our proximity to Beale Airforce Base has given us the opportunity to work with many active duty military and their families, as well as veterans, over the years.
In recent years, this vision has evolved. While we still have a heart for and serve our local military and their families, we’ve identified a significant need in our community, at-risk youth. We’re both honored and grateful to continue to work with our military clients while seeing the growth of our youth program.
What We Do
Warrior’s Soul provides individual, family, and group Equine Assisted Learning and Therapy sessions. We also facilitate workshops and events designed to educate and nurture connection to the potential of horses.
We use a variety of modalities including trauma-informed equine-assisted psychotherapy, Equine-Assisted Learning, and Brainspotting. As a program, we ascribe to the teachings of and are certified under the Natural Lifemanship Institute. Our shared, core belief is that there is potential for connection in everything, and our goal is to facilitate relationships between people and horses to overcome stress and trauma.
Through donations and grant funding we serve teens and pre-teens in residential treatment, foster youth, and kids referred to us from local out-patient organizations. We’re also able to provide scholarships to local children for participation in our program whose families lack the funds to access resources like ours.
In our experience, the bond that forms between kids and horses, especially when either or both have experienced trauma and life’s challenges, is particularly powerful. We’re truly honored to facilitate this connection and witness the deep, lasting changes and growth that take place.
Aside from youth and their families, we also serve:
- Active military and veterans
- Individuals
- Corporate and leadership groups
Warrior’s Soul works at a heart-centered level with teens, children, and their families to facilitate growth, learning, healthy development, and healing when indicated. Through the culture and safety of the ranch, as well as the relationships that are established with the facilitators and horses, a rich opportunity is provided for learning experiences and memories that have a life-long impact on the youth, families, and individuals we serve.
In our youth program, we work with kids with a variety of backgrounds and needs. Some of these include trauma, learning disabilities, Autistic Spectrum Disorder, physical disabilities, and emotional disturbance. The connection that occurs between horses and children presents a powerful dynamic that offers so much wonderful potential for growth and learning.
Why Equine Assisted Learning?
Equine Assisted Learning (EAL) provides a supportive environment for participants to learn about themselves, heal what has been broken, and reconnect to what has heart and meaning. The horse is the guide in this process of learning, reflecting, and exploring – we’re just the facilitators. The EAL facilitator cultivates the integration of mind, body, and spirit through interacting with a horse chosen specifically for that individual and their situation.
Our work is founded on building a connection between horses and humans. Connection is sometimes difficult to describe as it starts with a feeling that comes from within. By including horses in uniquely designed learning exercises, EAL facilitators can observe non-verbal communication between the horse and the participant. The facilitators guide the session, interpret what they see occurring, and encourage the learner to move through the exercise.
EAL sessions, which involve two facilitators and one or more participants, vary depending on the situation being addressed. Experiential techniques such as role-playing, role-reversal, and mirroring, are combined with equine-based activities, including choosing, grooming, walking, and sometimes riding a horse.
Once the session’s activities are complete, the facilitators and the participant(s) debrief on the experience, discuss insights, and explore next steps together. This experiential approach to learning provides understanding and retention of skills and insight gained.
The best way to fully comprehend this powerful and beautiful dynamic is to experience it. Contact us by clicking the button below to schedule a time to visit and experience all that the sanctuary of the ranch and horses has to offer you.