Animal Therapy

Animal Therapy at New Lifehouse Academy

We are proud to offer a truly unique and enriching opportunity for our students through our partnership with Oasis Animal Adventures, located right here on our property. This extraordinary animal therapy program allows girls to engage with a wide variety of animals—from familiar favorites like horses and mini horses to exotic companions such as camels, zebras, kangaroos, and lemurs. This therapy is certified with O.K. Corral Series EAL (Equine Assisted Learning) by EAGALA Founder Greg Kersten. 

A day spent at the Oasis barn is more than just fun—it’s a powerful hands-on experience in responsibility, leadership, trust, and accountability. By caring for these remarkable animals, students learn how to step outside of themselves, developing empathy, patience, and a deeper understanding of the importance of consistency and stewardship.

Each interaction fosters personal growth, emotional healing, and practical life skills. Whether feeding a zebra, grooming a horse, or building trust with a curious kangaroo, students are gently challenged to build connections based on respect and responsibility—lessons that naturally translate into healthier relationships with people as well.

The animal therapy program is a memorable and transformative part of the New Lifehouse journey, helping young women grow in confidence, compassion, and leadership—all within the nurturing, faith-centered environment of our boarding school for girls.

How Equine and Animal Care Therapy Positively Impacts Troubled Teenagers

Equine and animal care therapy offers a uniquely powerful pathway to healing for troubled teenagers, providing emotional, relational, and behavioral growth in ways that traditional therapies sometimes cannot achieve alone. Through hands-on interactions with animals, teens experience a form of connection and responsibility that is immediate, nonjudgmental, and deeply life-changing.

1. Building Trust and Healthy Relationships

For many struggling teens, trust has been broken—whether through trauma, family conflict, or personal failure. Working with animals requires building trust step-by-step. Horses, in particular, respond to a teen’s emotions and body language, teaching students that trust must be earned through consistency, patience, and respect. This experience lays a foundation for rebuilding human relationships in a healthier, more secure way.

2. Teaching Responsibility and Accountability

Caring for animals demands daily commitment—feeding, grooming, cleaning, and maintaining their environment. Teens learn that their actions have direct consequences, and they come to appreciate the value of consistency, hard work, and accountability. This practical responsibility often translates into better academic habits, improved behavior at home, and a stronger work ethic overall.

3. Providing Emotional Healing and Stress Relief

Animals offer unconditional acceptance, which can be incredibly healing for teens who feel judged, rejected, or misunderstood. Being around animals has been shown to reduce anxiety, lower cortisol levels (the stress hormone), and release endorphins—natural mood enhancers. Grooming a horse or playing with a friendly animal can create a sense of calm, helping teens manage emotions like anger, sadness, and fear more effectively.

4. Encouraging Self-Reflection and Emotional Awareness

Because horses are highly sensitive to human emotions, they act almost like a mirror. A teen who is tense, angry, or afraid will see those emotions reflected in the horse’s behavior. This immediate feedback encourages students to recognize, regulate, and express their feelings in healthier ways. Through animal care, teens become more attuned to their inner emotional states and better equipped to handle life’s challenges.

5. Developing Leadership and Communication Skills

Working with animals, especially horses, requires clear communication, leadership, and calm assertiveness. Teens quickly learn that yelling or frustration does not create cooperation—kindness, patience, and thoughtful direction do. This helps teens build stronger leadership skills and more effective interpersonal communication, essential for success in every area of life.

6. Boosting Confidence and Self-Worth

As teens master new skills—training a horse, caring for an exotic animal, completing daily responsibilities—they gain a sense of accomplishment and pride. For many troubled teens, success with animals represents one of their first significant positive achievements in a long time, helping to rebuild shattered confidence and reignite a belief in their own abilities.

Animal and equine therapy give troubled teens an opportunity to heal, to grow, and to thrive—emotionally, mentally, spiritually, and socially. Through consistent care, meaningful connection, and the joy of working with God’s creatures, students discover hope, purpose, and a renewed sense of self that prepares them for lasting success beyond the program.

Weekly Animal Therapy Sessions at HLHA  Include:

The animals love the girls and are experts at getting them to smile. Omar, the resident lemur, is sure to bring a smile to the face of even the most reserved girl.

Oasis Animal Adventures is a certified EAL (Equine Assisted Learning) program by EAGALA Founder Greg Kersten through the O.K. Corral Series.

“Oasis Animal Therapy has helped me in a variety of ways since I’ve come to Teen Challenge. Oasis helped me have peace I didn’t expect to find. The Goldner’s have taught me a lot, not only about animals but also about how I can use the time we spend there each week in some amazing ways. Having alone time with horses and God has become like a safe haven for me. When we are with our animals it’s our chance to talk to them and tell them the things we feel. Through that, I’ve been able to get out a lot of my stress and anxiety.  On top of having new opportunities to spend time with God with nature in the animals, it leads me to learn patience for myself and others. For one way, it taught me that I need to take that time to find what God is wanting of me. Oasis, each week, has become something I look forward to and I can’t wait to see what else it will teach me.” –Jade P.

“I always look forward to animal therapy. In that time, we have an opportunity to build a relationship of trust with our animals.Going to animal therapy has helped me cope when I have bad days. I have not only learned to build a relationship with animals but with people as well. I even ridden a camel at animal therapy! We have so much fun together and animal therapy is a great opportunity that I would have never had without coming to New Lifehouse”.  – Marissa A.