Brightside: Jesse’s Place Foundation
MILTON, De. – Trauma can be hard, but therapy can be harder. So, one local woman has created a space where more than one species can bond together while healing together.
Trauma to Triumph
That’s the message Sarah Hayes is aiming to bring to the community. “Since I’ve been a little girl, I’ve always wanted to help people and animals, and that’s why I feel I was put on this earth, is to help children and animals and just anyone that’s lost, hurt, and broken.”
With her non-profit Jesse’s Place Foundation, named after her former foster son who “aged out” of foster care. “Well Jesse was an 8-year-old young man that came to me, and I was his therapeutic foster mom in Virginia and that’s where I got the idea… Can you imagine being in a residential treatment facility for years not having a Christmas or Birthday? It’s really hard on them, so that’s why we’re here.”
Battered and broken
That’s how many of the animals and children arrive. As a foster parent to both pets and people, Sarah has been able to create a space where those who have been abuse can bond and grow stronger together. “A lot of kids don’t want to talk, so they much rather open up to a animal than to talk about it because they have a lot of pain inside. And they just don’t know how to express it.”
She says everyone one that comes has been though something. “All of the horses and the dogs, our service dogs, have come from some type of trauma whether it be abuse, neglect, starvation, impound, slaughter, and we even had one tied to the mailbox, so that makes them really intuitive.”
Each horse has their own name and personality, like Cinnamon who at 51 years old, has exceeded a horse’s normal life expectancy. Or Goldie who was beaten badly by her previous owners, but was still willing to let me stoke her head. Sarah says we can learn a lot from these animals. “The horses teach you loving limits. They teach you to love unconditionally. They teach you to stand up for yourself.”
Not all kids like horses, and so Sarah has some smaller four-legged friends she says give just as much support and comfort. Service dog Gracie is a prime example.
Simple Steps
The process is simple. Step one, asses the child that needs therapy. Step two, pair them with an animal of a similar traumatic background and step three, let the healing begin. “It’s a beautiful thing to see when the child first comes here, they could be shut down and really, like maybe they’re angry and they just throw things. Or maybe they’re so shut down they’re quiet. And the next thing you know, the child that quiet, I can’t get them to stop talking.”
“We’ve all been beaten down before” something she repeats over and over. She says if these horses can forgive and move on to have a better life, so can humans, and that’s her mission, to help one child at a time while continuing to look on the Brightside of things. “Because we all have a story, and it’s what we do with that story. We can either go down the road of negativity, or we can go down the road of joy and it’s our choice!”
Jesse’s Place Foundation is not just for those need therapy, and Sarah says anyone can just stop by and enjoy the farm. For more information visit their website or call them at 302- 393-3040 and set up a time to drop by!
