MANSFIELD – Nancy Labaki founded her private speech pathology practice, Northern Star Therapy, to provide services to children through fun activities.
Her newest addition, Trailblazers, fits right in.
Labaki has been a speech pathologist for 26 years, most of it spent in outpatient pediatrics, before founding Northern Star four years ago, with a location at 48 Church St. in Bellville.
She’s getting ready to open a new space in Bellville, where she hopes to start even more classes.
Trailblazers, taking place at 1209 Hickory Lane in Mansfield, doesn’t explicitly involve speech therapy. Instead, it’s an enrichment experience for kids centered around interactions with the equine.
Labaki partnered with Steadfast Path Horsemanship & EAL, an equine-assisted learning ranch, to bring the experience to her clients.
“Language happens everywhere,” Labaki said. “I don’t know anything about horses … but (Caitlyn Boroff with Steadfast Path) approached me.
“Her little boy comes to our music mommy and me music classes, and I woke up to a really long text one morning, and she was like, ‘Would you want to get together and do little classes?’ Literally no hesitation. I was like, ‘I know nothing about a horse, but yes!’ Kids just love animals.”
Boroff has worked with horses for a long time. She gets to impart that lifelong knowledge and experience on others with Steadfast Path.
“We use horses to teach kids life skills, communication skills, social skills and all kinds of things like that,” Boroff said. “We’ve been open for a couple of years doing just educational-type classes, but we just got certified in equine-assisted learning this spring.
“I think that horses are just great animals to teach us and to be mirrors of human emotion … They’re emotionally intelligent because in the wild they have to be paying attention to what all the horses around them are feeling.”
Boroff’s personal horse, Nash, was the one used to interact with kids. Nash packs two decades of emotional intelligence, making him perfect for the role.
“Nash gives the kids a lot of confidence because he’s extremely gentle and calm, and I trust him with everything,” Boroff said. “He’s the key right there. He’s just an angel.”
Labaki takes the same approach as Nash: patience, calmness and gentleness. In her years working with kids, she knows that chasing one around only harms the experience of the kids around them.
“I work with a lot of kids who are neurodiverse,” Labaki said. “The key is that if we don’t have those kids in a calm state, nobody can really learn unless we’re in a state of mind to do so. Even if you see me in the treatment room, we’re trying to keep things calm and level.
When kids are in a calm state of mind, that’s when they’re ready to learn.
Nancy Labaki, founder of Northern Star Therapy
Labaki’s calm voice, combined with the nature of the horses at Steadfast Path created the perfect experience for learning and enrichment.
Kids at the event got to give the horses treats, as well as pet and ride them. Laughs filled the arena as they rode around in circles at a snail’s pace, but for the kids, it was excitement like no other.
“That, to me, is the joy,” Labaki said. “I love this.”
