About Us
The mission of Project HOPE (Horses Opening People’s Eye’s) is to provide innovative, equine assisted therapy services to a variety of people to help them increase their quality of life. Our staff members have a wide breadth of experience and are specially trained to treat a full spectrum of issues in a gentle healing way.
Animal Assisted Therapy
Don’t Just Talk About Change – Start Experiencing It
Our experientially based programs are designed to support each person as a unique individual and provide a variety of ways to explore the feelings and behaviors that hold them hostage. We help each person move from “survive” to “thrive” by guiding them as they rediscover their authentic self. We use extensive selection, creative, alternative, and experiential therapies sessions using horses and small therapy dogs that ensure that each client receives attentive personalized care. During our animal assisted therapy, participants will gain an understanding of how the past sometimes gets in the way of the present.
A Word From Our Director
Welcome to the exciting world of Equine Assisted Therapy. My name is Sandra Tebbe and I am the director and founder of Project Hope Equine Assisted Therapy. I am also a Professional Clinical Counselor and Licensed Independent Chemical Dependency Counselor with over 33 years of experience working with children, adults, and people with disabilities. This whole program started back 13 years ago when I was trying to help my daughter Hope cope with her dyslexia. Her horse Noah was amazing as he patiently waited while she figured out jump courses with her disability. I thought “what amazing animals God has given us”. I then started Project Hope while I was working at two different private practices in 2005. Horses have also had a very healing effect on my own life. I started with two horses in at a barn I rented and the interest especially in the kids just grew. Most children that come for services have tried traditional counseling and it didn’t help. Project Hope then became a non-profit 7 years ago, when we received a 25,000 grant from the Hancock County Community Foundation to provide an anti-bullying program in the schools. Hope the little white pony saw 4,000 kids in schools presenting how bullying negatively affects people’s thinking and the positive ways we should feel about ourselves. I guess that leads me to my personal goals for Project Hope. My commitment is to provide quality animal assisted therapy to all people who want services and to use the healing properties of horses to help people in any way that we can. We usually serve over 100 people per year that can’t wait to see their favorite horse.