Helping People with Life Challenges Through Outreach and Interactions with Animals and Nature
On July 25, 2009, Lisa Wysocky, executive director of Colby’s Army, Inc. suffered the loss of her son Colby. Colby was a talented musician, artist, environmentalist and animal lover. As a young 20- year- old, Colby was diagnosed with schizophrenia. Before entering Grandpa’s House, a Nashville-based program that helps men with mental illness and addictions, Colby’s life came to a tragic end. Lisa, along with several others, founded Colby’s Army to continue the good work Colby started and to help others who suffer from life challenges.
Colby’s Army and their therapy horse, Quincy, were both nominated and selected as a 2024 Equine-Assisted Therapy Impact Award Honoree. Lisa said, “horses spend their lives studying humans, and in doing so, become ‘Intuitive’ about our needs. Quincy knows exactly what each participant needs from him, and he willingly delivers the exact helping hand or challenge that will set the participant up for success. Our participants understand what a true honor it is for a prey animal, like Quincy, to put his trust in them, and their self-esteem blossoms and confidence grows. This then translates to other areas of their lives and makes wonderful, positive change.”
Colby’s Army is a PATH (Professional Association of Therapeutic Horsemanship) member center, offering recreational therapeutic riding and equine-assisted learning. According to Colby’s Army’s website: “PATH requires high standards of professionalism and safety for people working in the field. In general, equine-assisted activities include recreational therapeutic riding and other mounted and ground activities such as ground driving, round penning, advanced obstacle leading, grooming and stable management, where participants, volunteers, instructors, horses and/or other equines are involved.”
Colby’s Army is dedicated to not only helping those with life challenges, but also through homeless outreach efforts, adult job training, organic gardening and teaches sustainability through recycling, upcyling, reuse, and repurposing efforts. Their facility displays many sustainable practices and highlights how to be more sustainable in fun and creative ways. To learn more about Colby’s Army and Quincy, their therapy horse visit http://www.colbysarmy.org.
Executive Director
Lisa Wysocky
Serving:
Upper Middle Tennessee
Founded:
2018
Therapies:
PATH, Equine Assisted Learning and Therapeutic Riding
