Tuesday, January 19th, 2016
A new program conducted at Stanford Red Barn, home to the Stanford equestrian team, offers guided workshops with horses to teach young people with early onset dementia to build confidence, trust and a sense of community.
The second program to use horses to treat the symptoms of dementia, following a similar program in Ohio, the Connected Horse Project was initiated by Paula Hertel and Elke Tekin, co-founders of ElderHub and countless other organizations that provide elder care resources and work toward developing assisted living programs.
Emphasizing a “care vs. cure” approach, the program aims to fill a gap in the treatment of early onset dementia by meeting the need for psychosocial interventions that offer participants an opportunity to achieve a better quality of life while living with the disorder.