Michelle is the Founder, Executive Director, and Lead Therapist at Operation Equine (a nonprofit 501c3 organization) and possesses over 30 combined years of teaching and counseling experience and has had the honor of serving those who serve us - in the Military Service Member, Veteran, Emergency Responder, and Health Care Worker communities - for almost 10 years.
In working with successful and heartfelt organizations such as Project Sanctuary, TAPS (Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors), and serving as a Military Family Life Counselor (MFLC) on military bases both at home and abroad, she discovered that truly: the whole family serves, and so she is dedicated to creating and offering Operation Equine programs to the entire family, as well as to any caregivers who assist them.
She has been an Eagala Model Equine Assisted Psychotherapy and Learning (EAP/L) Mental Health Specialist since 2010, is somatically trained through EGE (Equine Guided Education), has studied with EponaQuest, and enthusiastically encourages additional therapeutic riding work and hippotherapy through programs such as PATH, International.