Looking for fresh ideas for reentry programs for their clients, Dismas Charities' Residential Re-entry Center in Sioux City, Iowa has partnered with Special Troopers Adaptive Riding School (STARS) to offer an Equine Assisted Learning Program, according to the Sioux City Journal.
The new program will be available to six residents of the Dismas half-way house for federal inmates. Studies have shown that inmates working with animals learn compassion and responsibility and, when involved in an animal training or rescue program in prison, develop self-esteem and are less likely to get into trouble during their incarceration.
But the new program for reentrants may be groundbreaking. STARS has been providing a therapeutic riding program for individuals with physical, mental, emotional or social challenges for over 25 years, according to its website. Now it is opening its doors to those facing another type of challenge-the stigma of being a formerly incarcerated person.
It takes guts to openly support and accept those with a criminal conviction, especially when one’s clients were never in that category. STARS may become the model for other unlikely organizations or businesses to welcome returning citizens into their fold. Hopefully, others will look at what STARS is attempting to accomplish and a new trend in non-traditional reentry programs will gain momentum.
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