Congratulations to everyone who participated in learning horsemanship skills at Peace Ranch! The BrickWays group focused on building real skills that lead to riding—groundwork, horse care, and proper technique. While actual riding wasn't part of the sessions, these valuable skills will set the foundation for future adventures. Great job to all who joined and learned!

Peace Ranch founders, Jackie and Paul Kaschel are excited to announce the transition to a new Executive Director, John Cox, to continue the legacy of the Peace Ranch mission. This new chapter allows Jackie and Paul to remain involved in the ranch and to focus on their passion of the mission, which is to serve those in need, while handing off day to day administrative duties to the new Executive Director, John Cox.

The Body Keeps the Score, (2014) by Dr. Bessel van der Kolk is a New York Times best seller. This college level textbook, based on Van der Kolk’s 30 years of trauma research states “the urgent work of the brain after a traumatic event is to suppress it through forgetting or self-blame to avoid being ostracized.”

By Anna Faller — Meet Wiingash, a Colorado mustang helping veterans and families heal in Northern Michigan at the Traverse City nonprofit Peace Ranch.

The Body Keeps the Score, (2014) by Dr. Bessel van der Kolk, is a New York Times best seller. This college level textbook, based on Van der Kolk’s 30 years of trauma research, states “the urgent work of the brain after a traumatic event is to suppress it through forgetting or self-blame to avoid being ostracized. But the body does not forget” which causes all kinds of issues.

By Megan Kelto — Peace Ranch, the Traverse City-based nonprofit that supports people healing from trauma and addiction through experiential equine therapy, recently received a donation of land – and a special, new resident horse.

A generous 5 acre donation of land given to Peace Ranch by Paul Biederman will be developed for a new Rustic Retreat program offering short term intensive therapy services prioritizing Veterans and children & families in crisis, with a focus on trauma and addiction recovery.

In 2022 most of us in the US finally started moving away from the constant shifting and dancing to manage the world with covid. But it still left its mark on the way we do business and work, and the mental health field was no exception.

By Jillian Manning — 2023 marks the tenth year of the Northern Express Fascinating People list, and as we looked back through the archives, we were blown away by the 180 people we had featured over the years.

Dear Friends: This year I write with such nostalgia as I consider our journey to this landmark year in our history. The 17.5 acre ranch campus, much of which had been privately owned, now belongs in its entirety to Paraklesis dba Peace Ranch. A silent campaign launched in January by our Board of Directors raised nearly enough to retire the debt. Many thanks to the generosity of several anonymous donors, Bill & Susie Janis, and the estate of Peg & Erwin Sporte.

I guess I’m an old farmer at heart. I remember when our kids were young, brining in bushels of fruit and vegetables for freezing and canning to preserve them for the coming winter. Harvest is work, the result of good sown plus watering and tending to promote healthy growth toward maturity.

The tragedy that took place Monday, May 24th in Uvalde, Texas has had global impact. Nineteen children, and two adults were senselessly gunned down by an 18 year old (who was also a casualty) the day before this picture was taken. It was after Tuesday that age old wisdom struck me recently.

By Lauren Creighton and Josh Monroe — April is Child Abuse Prevention Month and Peace Ranch in Traverse City has teamed up with the Traverse Bay Children’s Advocacy Center to help sexual assault survivors. The center has helped more than 3,000 kids with free counseling since opening their doors in 2010.

With war abroad, national unrest, and difficult times in our community, our team has joined the battle to reclaim lives devastated by abuse, neglect, war, and now systemic trauma caused by the pandemic. We increased service personnel, added new programming and partnerships to broaden our capacity and ability to help.

By Adam Bartelmay — A horse farm in Northern Michigan that specializes in equine assisted counseling and education is looking to expand its services to include more programming for veterans. Peace Ranch near Traverse City recently hired a program director with 25 years of experience in the U.S. Army.

In January, at our Annual Meeting we reviewed the History of our organization. Paraklesis Inc. was founded in 1990 to fill a service gap and Forest Lakes Counseling was born to provide quality, faith based counseling services for people in need regardless of their ability to pay.

Dear Friends: As I write, our local hospital has reached RED for the first time in history due to COVID19 complicated by a lack of medical and support staff. Schools are struggling with administrators juggling their responsibilities while doubling as teachers as coaches.

By Laura Michels — Fifty years ago, Allen Watts served as a sniper for the United States Army during the Vietnam War. Five decades passed but the impact remains. Watts goes to Peace Ranch, a horse ranch about 10 miles south of Traverse City. Here, horses and humans heal each other, according to ranch staff.

EAP is an alternative mental health therapy for PTSD facilitated by a Master’s level therapist, an Equine Specialist with equine expertise and horses. EAP is experiential, hands-on, typically takes place in nature, and does not rely on talking.

Jackie Kaschel, Executive Director and Co-founder of Peace Ranch, is nominated for the Traverse City Record-Eagle's Influential Women of Northern Michigan. Read an interview with Jackie.