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Bay Area non-profit uses mini-horses to help teens struggling with addiction heal

By FOX 13 News Staff
Updated  December 3, 2024 4:54pm EST
Citrus County
FOX 13 News

Bay Area non-profit uses mini-horses to help teens struggling with addiction heal

Part of the curriculum at Victory High School, a non-profit focused on helping 14-19-year-olds who have struggled with addiction, uses mini-horses to help heal.

HERNANDO, Fla. - Part of the curriculum at Victory High School, a non-profit focused on helping 14-19-year-olds who have struggled with addiction, uses mini-horses to help heal. 

"I find a lot of peace in nature, and I have just really incorporated this whole outside piece to our curriculum," said Tina Miller, who founded Florida Recovery Schools of Tampa Bay in 2020.

The organization runs Victory High School campuses in Pasco, Pinellas and Tampa. The trio of schools serves around 25 students. 

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"I founded this because I’ve worked over in social work, education and juvenile justice, and I kept seeing young people who get a little bit of sobriety when they locked up, and then they would go back to traditional school and would relapse," Miller said. 

The non-profit battles addiction through small class sizes and specialized counseling and support. A unique part of the curriculum takes the students a couple of hours north for equine therapy at the Healing Hearts Farm in Cirtus County. 

"I think it's nice, because it removes them from the everyday lifestyle that they have in the city by bringing them out here," Miller said. 

Once a month, the students help with the farm and spend time with animals, especially a small group of mini-therapy horses. 

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"They're calm, and they're not judgmental. They could definitely feel how you're feeling based off emotions," senior Samarra said. 

Samarra was initially scared of the animals, but now spends hours holding and petting them. 

"We just share a connection. I just sit there and pet her, and she just, like, nudges against me," she said.

Brayden, a junior, said the experiences at the farm have made a big impact, both in having conversations with friends and simply having fun. 

"I think it's really nice how we all have like a different perspective on the same issues, like at the same root problems, but we all live a different life," Brayden said. "Just being able to hear like everyone else's story, but being able to relate to certain parts of it just kind of makes you feel like more of a whole person and not so like different from everyone else." 

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