SLTH Outreach Programmes

Strength and Learning Through Horses provides educational and therapeutic services within prison and residential settings. We take the horses and a staff team into these settings to run programmes that actively help people in prisons improve their lives.

SLTH horses travel to custodial settings in and around London to help young people manage their emotions, acquire new skills, and explore new possibilities for their future.  The goal of our therapeutic education work with horses in prisons or inpatient settings is to bring a sense of calm, and create social ties by using the horse as a mediator.  

Who is it for?

For young people who can’t come to us, we will bring the horses and team to you. 

“As a largely remand prison in SE London serving the courts and housing prisoners serving short sentences and to some extent preparing them for release, HMP Thameside, operated by Serco, has a high number of Young Adults with not enough time left to serve to complete much psychologically-informed intervention. 

Working with horses has created the opportunity to help this specific age group (18-25 years) develop emotional awareness, think about vocational possibilities and start meaningful relationships with professional agencies, whilst also perhaps for the first time, setting goals for their future (all typically deficits in Young Adults’ engagement in the Criminal Justice System (CJS). ”
— SLTH Young PersonDr Philippa Thody AFBPsS CPsychol ForenPsyD - Head of Psychological Services (HMP Thameside)

Why Horses

Horses naturally respond to the emotional issues people bring to sessions and reflect the emotions of people in their own behaviour. Horses hold no bias and help build trust, create a sense of responsibility, and ease prisoners’ anger, frustration, and isolation in their lives behind bars.

Warren Court Project

SLTH works with young men who are dealing with complex mental health issues and learning disabilities at Warren Court, a medium secure in-patient unit operated by Hertfordshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust.

Sessions are designed to help them open up to their emotions and gain skills to cope while incarcerated and upon release.  We have developed a bespoke mentorship element for the programme, enabling participants to gain new skills and experience from their peers. 

HMP Thameside Project

At HMP Thameside (operated by SERCO), SLTH works with Young Adults on remand with the aim to reconnect them with in-house rehabilitation and be more able to make  positive choices in and outside of prison.  Courses run for 10 weeks and combine therapy, learning and meeting equine professionals.   

At the end of every course, participants gain a personal reference and accredited qualifications that have enabled them to participate in further training and in-house rehabilitation projects. The course has been shown to positively impact the young men in re engaging with rehabilitative in-house services that they previously avoided.  In both settings staff indicated that this was the first time the men had agreed to engage in personal therapeutic work. We are working with HMP Thameside to research and provide academic evidence to demonstrate the effectiveness of equine therapeutic education on young peoples’ lives. 

Get in touch

Get in touch to explore whether our outreach programme might be right for the young people you work with. We’ll work with you to design a bespoke equine-assisted therapy and education programme tailored to their needs and goals.

Our outreach programme is available to private groups only. Costs vary depending on the nature and length of the programme — contact us to discuss your requirements and we’ll create a personalised offer to suit your needs.

Our Impact

In 2023/24, we supported 455 young people.

Reported improvements in all three personal development goals set.

Said they were less likely to give up when tasks got difficult.

Had more confidence in their abilities.

Said their mental health had improved.

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