Help Us Give Teenagers a Place to Be Heard

Three years ago, we received the call that no parent, family member, teacher, therapist or support worker ever wants to receive.

A teenage client of ours, Ruth, had taken her own life.

Nothing prepares you for news like that. There were questions, grief and a deep sadness for Ruth, her mum and everyone who loved her. There was also a painful awareness that, during the time Ruth spent with us and the horses, she had felt calmer, understood and able to express what was happening inside her.

But one hour of feeling heard could not change the circumstances she had to return to for the other 167 hours of the week. Caught up in a system that both she and her mum had been battling with for years!

Ruth’s story has remained in our hearts, not as a tool to create fear or blame, but as a reason to keep listening, learning and building something better for the young people who come after her. And its the reason why I wrote Dying To be Heard -Giving Teenagers a Voice, Straight from the Horse's Mouth.

Teenagers Are Not Broken

At Healing Hearts and Minds with Horses CIC, we work with teenagers experiencing anxiety, isolation, low self-worth, emotional overwhelm, self-harming behaviours and thoughts of not wanting to be here.

Many arrive believing that nobody understands them. They may have stopped talking because they feel that decisions are constantly being made about them, around them or for them.

This does not mean that parents, teachers or professionals have failed. Families and services are often doing everything they can within systems that are stretched, pressured and struggling to meet increasingly complex needs.

The teenagers themselves are not broken either.

They may be broken-hearted. They may be carrying broken beliefs. They may be trying to survive in a broken system within circumstances that feel beyond their control. Most of all, they may be longing for someone to listen without judging, labelling or trying to fix them.

That is where the horses can help.

What Your Donation Will Support

Your contribution will help us provide safe, professionally delivered programmes for teenagers who might otherwise be unable to access this kind of support.

Funds raised will be used across three essential areas:

### Fully Funded Teenager Programmes

**£1,000 can provide one struggling teenager with a fully funded six-week programme with the horses.**

The programme gives them time and space to build a trusted relationship, explore what is happening beneath their behaviour and begin developing confidence, self-worth and a stronger sense of hope.

One funded place does not affect only one person. Its impact can extend into the teenager’s family, education, relationships and future.

### Care of Our Therapy Horses

Our horses are at the heart of everything we do, and their welfare must always come first.

Donations help to cover:

* Feed, forage and bedding

* Farrier care

* Veterinary treatment

* Dental care

* Insurance

* Older-horse supplements

* Tack and specialist equipment

* Rest, rehabilitation and retirement care

* Well-being support for the therapy horses (essential - they can get burnout too)

Approximately **£1,000 contributes towards one month of care for a therapy horse**, depending on the individual horse’s needs.

**£50 can provide supplements for one of our older horses.**

** even £5 can buy a sack of carrots or contribute towards everyday feed and care.**

Every horse involved in our work is treated as a valued partner, never as a piece of equipment. Looking after them properly ensures that they remain healthy, willing and able to offer their calm, honest presence to the teenagers who need them.

What is so special about working with Horses?

Horses do not care about a diagnosis, a school report, a difficult day or the labels that may have followed a young person through the system.

They respond to what is happening in the present moment.

Through professionally facilitated HEART equine-assisted therapeutic coaching, teenagers are supported to develop trust, confidence, resilience, self-respect and healthier ways of expressing what they feel.

This is not simply horse riding, far from it. Most of the work is non-ridden.

Young people participate in carefully guided activities with the horses, learning about communication, boundaries, relationships, emotions and the effect they have on the world around them. Because there is no pressure to sit opposite an adult and immediately explain everything, conversations often unfold naturally while grooming, leading, observing or simply standing beside a horse.

For some teenagers, it is the first time in a very long time that they have felt accepted exactly as they are.

### A Safe and Sustainable Centre

Funds will also help us maintain and improve the environment in which the work takes place, including:

* Repairs and maintenance to the arena

* Safe fencing, gates and pathways

* Stable and shelter repairs

* Improvements to surfaces used by teenagers and horses

* Accessible facilities

* Safety equipment and essential site maintenance

These improvements are not cosmetic. A well-maintained arena and safe facilities allow sessions to continue throughout more of the year and ensure that vulnerable young people can work with the horses in a secure and professionally managed environment.

# Our Commitment to You

We understand that donating is an act of trust.

Healing Hearts and Minds with Horses CIC is committed to using funds responsibly, safeguarding the welfare of both teenagers and horses, and creating programmes that offer meaningful, professionally guided support.

Your donation will not be used to make impossible promises.

It will be used to create possibility.

The possibility that a teenager finds us earlier.

The possibility that they experience what it feels like to be listened to without judgement.

The possibility that they begin to see themselves differently.

The possibility that a family no longer feels as though they are facing everything alone.

We cannot rewrite Ruth’s story, but together, we can help shape a different chapter for another young person, before it's too late.

## Become Part of Their Next Chapter

Whether you give £5, £50, £1,000 or choose to support us as a corporate sponsor, your contribution becomes part of something real: cared-for horses, a safe environment and life-changing opportunities for teenagers who need somewhere to breathe, belong and be heard.

You are not being asked to rescue a teenager.

You are being invited to help create the place, the people and the possibility that allow them to rediscover their own strength.

**Let us make sure the next young person knows that their voice matters.**

Thank you for standing beside our teenagers, our horses and the future we are working to create.