The Communities We Serve
Healing Two Hearts at Once: Solving Colorado’s Dual Crisis
From Denver to Colorado Springs, we are bridging the gap between human trauma and equine surrender with professional, sustainable care.
The Front Range’s Silent Struggle
Colorado is known for its beauty, but beneath the surface, our communities along the Front Range are grappling with two escalating, parallel crises.
The Human Crisis: We are facing a mental health emergency rooted in severe trauma. Our Veterans, our first responders bearing the weight of their service, and our youth are experiencing high rates of PTSD. Yet, they face a profound scarcity of accessible, affordable, and effective therapeutic services. The need is immense, and the resources are few.
The Equine Crisis: Concurrently, a hidden welfare crisis rages. Due to a lack of resources or education, horse owners are too often forced to surrender their animals. Without a safety net, these magnificent animals frequently end up in the high-risk slaughter pipeline.
Two populations, both experiencing trauma, both in need of sanctuary.
Our Solution: Dual-Spectrum Healing
CAWS exists to answer both calls for help simultaneously. We don’t just rescue; we facilitate mutual recovery through Dual-Spectrum Trauma-Informed Care (TIC).
We provide an ethical, permanent sanctuary for rescued equines—many of whom carry their own trauma histories. In this safe environment, these horses become powerful healers. They serve as intuitive, non-judgmental partners in Equine-Assisted Learning (EAL) for human survivors.
By bringing these two groups together, we fill a therapeutic vacuum with a proven, experiential healing modality that talk therapy alone often cannot provide. The horse finds safety; the human finds a path back to themselves.
Professionalism Over Passion Alone
We know that passion is essential for rescue work, but passion alone isn’t enough to sustain it. Too many rescues fail because they lack the business infrastructure to survive tough times.
CAWS rejects the failures of the “passion-only” rescue model. We are a professional, sustainable solution led by an experienced team known as the “6 Broke Girls.” We leverage diverse, high-level professional skills—including Non-Profit Masters degrees, auditing, and engineering—to ensure our organization is run with accountability and resilience.
We are elevating the standard of ethical equine welfare, ensuring our community has a resource it can rely on for years to come.
Built to Last: A Sustainable Sanctuary
How do we guarantee lifelong care for our horses and accessible therapy for our clients? By adopting a business mindset.
Our sustainability model is anchored by the acquisition of the Morrison property, which features six revenue-generating cabins. By utilizing these cabins for rentals, we create reliable “earned income” that directly funds our ethical operations.
This unique model frees us from the constant, precarious cycle of desperate fundraising. It guarantees the long-term care of our herd and ensures that CAWS remains a resilient sanctuary for both species.