First responder horse therapy program launching in Chesapeake

CHESAPEAKE, Va. (WAVY) — For more than five years now, days on the farm for Kayla Arestivo have meant days trying to help veterans work through trauma.

As a licensed professional councilor and co-founder of Trails of Purpose, a 501c3 nonprofit charitable organization, she has made it her mission to make sure veterans can find therapy through a connection with horses.

The demand in a region that boasts the 12th largest veteran population in the nation was so great, she and her husband Kyle opened up a second location in Virginia Beach last year.

But recently, she realized there was still a gap in services for those who also step up to give the ultimate sacrifice: first responders.

“We have been very focused on serving the military population,” Arestivo said. “That’s been our exclusive focus. But we had a veteran that came through our program, he’s a military veteran turned firefighter. When he went through one of our other 12 week programs, he had such an impact that he thought, ‘Well, this can’t just be for me.’ And when I heard his story of how he was impacted and he was pretty on fire about it, I decided, you know, maybe that’s something that we need to pilot and try out.”

Beginning Sept. 23, Trails of Purpose is launching the Elevation Program. It will be six weeks and focused on stress management and mental health maintenance, as well as communication for first responders and law enforcement, according to Arestivo.

Only 20 slots are open to active duty police, sheriff’s deputies, firefighters and EMS personnel serving in Virginia Beach, Chesapeake and Norfolk.

“We want to make sure that it’s really impactful,” Arestivo said. “And if there’s alterations that need to be made, because this is our first time serving that demographic, we’ll be able to make those.”

Arestivo wants to focus on stressors that are unique to first responders.

“And I think a lot of that is, if we’re focused on the difference between military and first responders, is that first responders really have to compartmentalize,” Arestivo said. “And we know that military do as well. But you’re seeing, potentially, very traumatic scenes and then having to go home that night. And so, how do you put that away when you pull up to an accident and it’s a little girl about the same age as your daughter and she’s hurt, significantly hurt or worse, and then you go home at the end of the night, you kiss your own little girl to bed, right? How do you compartmentalize that?”

The toll of trauma is what led Arestivo to launch the charity.

She was eight when her father, William Fallon, was one of the nearly 3,000 killed as a result of the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001 when four commercial airliners were hijacked. Fallon worked on the 103rd floor of the North tower for Cantor Fitzgerald in the IT department.

“I’ll never forget that,” Arestivo said. “The smells, the sights, the sounds. And I can only imagine how the first responders, the police and the fire department that showed up on 911, how that wrecked them probably for years. You can’t undo those things, right? But what was so challenging is those people, the ones that lived, had to go home, you know?”

If you have interest in the program, you can contact Trails of Purpose on their website.

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