About
Our Vision
WE BELIEVE THAT EVERYONE SHOULD FEEL LIKE THEY BELONG and ARE HERD
At U R Herd we envision a world where everyone feels supported and connected to themselves, to others and to the community.
We are creating a culture of connection by bringing people to an environment that heals, nurtures and supports renewal. Grounded in principles of interconnectedness, U R Herd is committed to healing from the ground up through a creative range of programs in equine assisted therapy, and other experiential and evidence-based learning programs that provide a nurturing, creative, and fun learning environment for developing life skills like team building, resilience, self-care and confidence.
Horses have proven to be uniquely successful for psychotherapy, as they respond to and can reflect human behavior.
We know that both healing and change start with our view of the world, which is why we are committed to helping people heal their hearts, bodies and minds, Equine assisted programs are designed to teach individuals how to overcome the obstacles in their life through the eyes and heart of a horse.
With these programs we envision collaborating with our city of New Orleans to foster a community where mental health and the complexity of suicide can be addressed with compassion and where all individuals feel empowered enough to act on their capacity to make a difference to people impacted by trauma and suicide. These issues can affect any of us and it takes a city. We can do this together.
Our Story
U R Herd was founded in October 2023 by Louise Rimington, so it is a start up with exciting times ahead.
Louise is a licensed systemic family therapist with over 25 years' experience working and managing mental health services in the National Health service in the UK and for the last 7 years running her own private practice in New Orleans. Louise is also a lifelong equestrian with over 20 years of experience working with horses. Louise lived in London for a few years and had the opportunity to work with an equine facility where she experienced how beneficial Equine Assisted Therapy was to inner city communities.
Louise became passionate about Equine Therapy and learning after witnessing its powerful ability to heal those in the community.
Previous to founding U R Herd Louise offered Equine assisted therapy as part of her private practice and partnered with another ranch in
New Orleans.
The need for the non-profit became clear because Louise did not want to say no to anyone in need. After having worked in the UK where everyone had access to free mental health services Louise wanted to bring that experience to New Orleanians. She bought a plot of land in Lower coast Algiers, which has a country feel and yet is only 20 minutes from downtown New Orleans. On this plot of land there are some basic facilities outside for U R Herd to start seeing clients, However U R Herd needs some real infrastructure to grow and build a whole wellness center to serve our community.
At U R Herd, our goal is to offer quality services that are based on providing Equine Assisted Learning and Equine Assisted Therapy to everyone - whether or not they can afford a session or not.
Our Wonderful Board
Jeffrey Newell
Ginger Joyner,
Keith Hutchins
Phyllis Shreve
Colin Shreve
Mitchel Player
Joel Escamilla
Lorelei Cropley
Eric Belin