{"id":281842,"date":"2026-09-09T01:10:08","date_gmt":"2026-09-09T01:10:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/281842\/"},"modified":"2026-09-09T01:10:08","modified_gmt":"2026-09-09T01:10:08","slug":"how-this-pennsylvania-foundation-is-helping-first-responders-through-equine-therapy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/281842\/","title":{"rendered":"How this Pennsylvania foundation is helping first responders through equine therapy"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>This week marks 25 years since the 9\/11 attacks on America, and it&#8217;s bringing renewed awareness about mental health needs and resources. A special equine therapy program called the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kindlehill.org\/what-we-do\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Kindle Hill Foundation<\/a> in Blue Bell, Montgomery County, has a variety of programs, including one focused on first responders.<\/p>\n<p>In one exercise, the no-touch obstacle course helps police officers practice self-awareness using body language to guide a horse.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It really forces you to be more mindful and think about calming down your emotions and lowering your heart rate because they feel that and they know when you&#8217;re stressed,&#8221; Andrew Clauhs, with the Upper Moreland Police Department, said.<\/p>\n<p>Clauhs said it&#8217;s critical for officers to find ways to handle and process stress, something that&#8217;s become a bigger focus since 9\/11.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s important to remember that we&#8217;ve been dealing with this for 25 years and we&#8217;ve come so far,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p>Saly Glassman, who started the Kindle Hill Foundation, said mental health services can be geared to a variety of different groups or individuals.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Just like the law enforcement community, [the horses] are very, very sensitized to their surroundings,&#8221; Glassman said. &#8220;Moving around an animal that in many ways actually understands your point of view, that can be a real relief.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Matthew Stadulis, of White Marsh Township Police, said the program has been helpful to him after being attacked by a felon with a gun.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Over the years, I&#8217;ve dealt with a lot of crises, a lot of calls, stressful calls,&#8221; Stadulis said.<\/p>\n<p>Stadulis said many officers deal with PTSD. For him, equine therapy has helped him recover.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;They help you with letting go of that stress and all the stressors involved from our job,&#8221; Stadulis said.<\/p>\n<p>The Kindle Hill Foundation also has specialized programs for people with Alzheimer&#8217;s and Parkinson&#8217;s diseases, all dedicated to supporting mental health needs with equine therapy.<\/p>\n<p>\n          More from CBS News\n        <\/p>\n<p class=\"content__tags__label\">In:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This week marks 25 years since the 9\/11 attacks on America, and it&#8217;s bringing renewed awareness about mental&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":281843,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[200,28,30,29],"class_list":["post-281842","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pennsylvania","tag-montgomery-county","tag-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania-headlines","tag-pennsylvania-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281842","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=281842"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281842\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/281843"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=281842"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=281842"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=281842"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}