CLEARWATER, Fla. -- Inspire Equine Therapy's newest program aims to give people experiencing pandemic-related issues a new way to heal.

It was created after the facility received several calls beginning at the end of last year asking if any of their programs would be well-suited to stress or trauma connected to COVID.

"People were just trying to find some way to get out of the funk and change their lives back to being closer to normal," said Inspire Equine Therapy Founder and Executive Director Melissa Yarbrough. "We're used to getting trauma issues, and finding that people are considering this trauma for themselves was surprising to us."

Inspire has offered a range of programs meant to help teens and adults with physical disabilities, disabled veterans with conditions like post traumatic stress disorder, and others facing a life challenge causing trauma, anxiety, or depression. 

This new equine-facilitated learning program is for anyone ages ten and up facing a mental health challenge, including pandemic-related issues.

"They're not going out to stores, they're not going out to dinner, they're not going out to parties, things like that. Just the changes of the normal day-to-day that causes depression," said Yarbrough. 

Yarbrough said some participants are working through trauma following COVID infections. Others are health care workers having a tough time dealing with the pandemic at work.

The unmounted program teaches participants skills to help ground themselves and be present.

"Horses live in the moment. They don't care what happened ten minutes ago and what's going to happen in the future, and that's something to help with our anxiety and our depression," said Yarbrough. "We need to start learning to just focus on our environment and what's going on in the moment."

Inspire's fifth annual Boot Scootin Barn Dance is coming up next month. Tickets to the fundraiser are almost sold out, but there are other ways to participate, including a silent auction.