Sex trafficking is human trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation, including sexual slavery. Trafficking victims are women, men, boys and girls. At Ranch Hands Rescue, we believe there are five key ways you can help combat this form of modern day slavery. 1. Be Aware of the Signs The first step is to know what to look for. You … Read More
Wired to Adapt
Adaptive: to make fit (as for a new use) often by modification Maladaptive: marked by poor or inadequate ability to modify to fit Humans are the most successful mammals on the planet BECAUSE we are the best at adaptation. We can adapt to fit nearly any climate, circumstance, or challenge. This is largely due to our massive neocortex, and specifically … Read More
Congruence
“We cannot change, we cannot move away from what we are, until we thoroughly accept what we are. Then change seems to come about almost unnoticed” (Carl R. Rogers, On Becoming a Person). Carl Rogers referred to congruence as a compatible match between an individual’s ideal sense of self and their actual experience of their sense of self. Incongruence, on … Read More
Care for the Caregivers
American healthcare providers are facing an unprecedented level of stress and trauma as a result of the Covid-19 outbreak. In some areas of the country, their exposure to traumatic events is equivalent to a war zone hospital (TIME, 2020). When overwhelming stress is paired with inadequate follow-up care, the result is often Post Traumatic Stress. That is the aftermath we … Read More
Tension
Tension. It is a state of being that requires almost no explanation to be understood. Most animals are capable of recognizing tension even across species. It can be a temporary state, or it can be one’s modus operandi. We feel it every day to variable degrees. Usually, a mammal will return to a state of non-tension (maybe even relaxation) after … Read More
Abusing Ourselves
Recently, I crafted a metaphor that helped me understand how maltreatment cycles through us as we go about the business of living. It is my hope that this way of looking at the legacy of abuse and trauma is helpful to others as it has been for me. When we experience abuse, or trauma of any kind, we begin to … Read More
Letter From Our Founder
In 2008, I formulated a mission: to bring together abused and neglected animals with abused and neglected people. Through my own experience with rescued animals, I realized their therapeutic impact on our mental health. In 2009, Ranch Hands Rescue became a 501(c)(3) public charity. Today, our fully licensed professional counselors specialize in trauma-focused therapy, Equine and Animal Assisted Counseling (EAAC), … Read More
Roo’s New Years Resolution
Emotional Support Dog Needs Three Prosthetics to Walk (Argyle, TX, December 26, 2018) – Roo, a one-year-old Basenji mix, has one goal for 2019 – to run and play like other dogs. Born with congenital deformities in three of her legs, Roo cannot walk normally. The once-abandoned puppy was rescued from the Lewisville Animal Shelter and is now an emotional … Read More
Focusing on Gender Equality in Sex Trafficking
With years of experience helping sex trafficking victims process their emotional trauma, RHR is developing a plan to change the severe lack of aid for young boys trapped in the sex trafficking industry. Half of sex trafficking victims are male, but to add to boys’ nearly invisible victimhood, “only four out of 25 shelters for commercially sexually exploited children serve … Read More
What is EAAC Therapy?
EAAC stands for Equine and Animal Assisted Counseling, a therapeutic modality that helps traumatized individuals build a relationship with a horse or other animal to bring about transformation and healing. There are many hardships in life that can cause intense emotional trauma such as abuse, neglect, domestic violence, divorce, mental illness, substance abuse, death or imprisonment of a caregiver, or … Read More