JACKSONVILLE, Fla — A barn isn’t something you would expect to see Downtown. Much less three on a campus of a medical facility. However, a in a first-of-its-kind program, Nemours Children’s Health is taking a big step in animal-assisted therapy.
The mini barns and enclosures are for the expansion of the ADAPT Program started by Jennifer Pfieffer. ADAPT stands for Assisted Dog and Pony Therapy and features three miniature horses, Gypsy, Taco and Buc.
The horses are very popular visiting patients at Nemours.
Pfieffer has worked for years to expand the ADAPT program to find more ways to make the horses accessible to be aides in therapy.
"Our goal in therapy is to help you deal with a certain situation, a certain illness or help with a coping strategy," Pfieffer explained.
The mini-horses work with an assigned psychologist and patients as part of the expanding program. The mini-horses don’t live in the barns, though. They go home with Jennifer at night.
Nemours just finished a pilot program using volunteer staff members to walk through the six-week program for pediatric patients that begins with a simple introduction.
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"Second step is going to be grooming and then leading and eventually go to obstacles," explained Jennifer.
Dr. Lisa Schilling, a pediatric psychologist at Nemours, said something as simple as leading a horse can give a child confidence.
"Certainly our patients are facing many obstacles of their own, so being able to help an animal through it and see that they can be successful in maneuvering something like that can also help them with the ability to feel successful in their treatment," Shilling said.
Dr. Sharon Leonard volunteered to be a part of the pilot program for staff and said she can see this program growing because children are often very responsive when working with animals, especially mini-horses.
"It is sort of a magical moment, a little bit different type of therapy besides your traditional therapy with a dog," Shilling explained. "So I think it brings a little bit more magic to the interaction."
Magic, mini-horses and medicine: A combination that could prove to be just what the doctor ordered.
"There is research out there, but it is very small," Pfieffer said. "So with us partnering with UNF and Nemours, we are trying to be the center of excellence for research."
The ADAPT program at Nemours is all donor funded, so if you would like to contribute follow the link here.
Now that the staff pilot program is done, Nemours says it is looking to start the pediatric program in February 2022.