OUR PEOPLE
Our Facilitators
Our experienced team is passionate about the healing power of the horse. They understand that horses can unlock potential and give insight to ones self. Our Facilitators are Licensed Mental Health Professionals and hold several Equine Assisted Activities Certifications.
Kathy Corbett
Kathy CorbettCTRI, ESMHL, Certified EAL Facilitator
Kathy has served those with physical, cognitive, and emotional challenges for over 30 years as a PATH Certified Therapeutic Riding Instructor at various centers across the country. She has always been passionate about not only the physical benefits of horseback riding, but also the emotional and mental wellness that comes from being around them. She looks forward to using her PATH Equine Specialist in Mental Health and Learning along with her recent Certification through the EAL Academy to partner with the horses and mental health professionals to bring wellness programs to our community. By partnering with these licensed professionals, she can help clients experience real outcomes of healing.
Kathy is passionate about bringing horses and people together for better health and wellness through a different model. At Hoofprints she will be able to meet people where they are at the moment to address their needs right then, rather than be task oriented with an agenda. She believes that people need to be more mindful of the moment and get back to nature. Kathy believes that horses help find you when you are lost.
Shawnmari Kaiser
Shawnmari KaiserMSW
Shawnmari has a master’s degree in Social Work from the University of Southern California with over thirty years of clinical and educational experience. She has provided crisis intervention, counseling, and support in areas of both short-term adjustment difficulties as well as chronic long-term mental health needs. She has a breadth of experience involving terminal illness and various forms of trauma. Shawnmari’s successes also include working with depression, anxiety, addiction, and life transitions. She is also an Adjunct Professor for the School of Social Work at the University of Southern California where she has been teaching master level courses through their virtual academic program since 2011.
Shawnmari is experienced in doing Equine Facilitated Services. She developed a program that focuses on understanding and reducing stress, distorted thoughts, improving communication, and developing a Wise Mind. She began working with horses and mental wellness in California and helped write a clinical paper on the subject. She has conducted this program in the Dayton area for several years and is excited to be able to expand these wellness programs at Hoofprints.
She moved to Centerville several years ago and enjoys spending time with her daughter’s family and loves taking her 3 granddaughters on adventures.
Jenn Walter
Jenn WalterLSW
Jenn has a passion for horses and mental wellness. She is an Independently Licensed Social Worker who has been helping families and adolescents for more than 26 years. Through her training in the EAGALA (Equine Assisted Growth and Learning Association) method she has a deep understanding of how horse can lend an important role in the healing process. She is excited to bring her expertise to HoofPrints.
Jenn is an Air Force Veteran who is also the mom to 2 teenage boys. She enjoys working with teens, adults, families, and Vets. She loves to laugh, is a dragonfly fanatic, and thrives to help others see their success.
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Anke Pietsch
Anke PietschLSW
Anke is a Licensed Social Worker and primarily works with children and youth, in prevention, group facilitation, social emotional learning and communication skills. She is finishing her master’s degree in Social Work at the Ohio State University. Anke has worked as a school social worker in a school for students with Severe Emotional Challenges. Here she experienced the healing power that animals and especially horses have.
She has loved horses since she was a little girl and grew up vaulting and riding in Germany. She has volunteered for Maggie’s Mini Therapy Horses and the Therapeutic riding Institute. Anke is also involved with the Cancer Support Community in Cincinnati where she teaches some art and culinary workshops. She enjoys cooking and spending time with her husband, two daughters, two dogs, two cats, and 9 chickens.
Bridget Petri, MC
Bridget Petri, MCBridget Petri graduated from Wright State with her bachelor’s degree in Psychology and her master’s degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling. Bridget started her career in a hospital setting, splitting time between the adult and teen psychiatric units and the teen partial hospitalization program. From there she grew her experience in both outpatient and school based settings working again with adults and teens. She particularly enjoys working with women and teens wanting to build self-esteem, self-awareness and/or cultivate healthier relationships. She also has experience and knowledge working with introversion and HSP’s (Highly Sensitive Persons).
Bridget recently opened her own private practice in Kettering and is focusing on a person-centered, holistic approach. Bridget has been riding horses since she was 10 years old and grew up owning two horses. She is excited to dive into the world of equine therapy focusing on mental health!
Our Board
Kathy Corbett
Program Director, Founder
Kathy has spent most of her professional career as a business manager for both large and small companies. She now owns Corbett Solutions and works solely with nonprofit Executive Directors helping them run their organizations. Kathy has a heart for nonprofit organizations and has served as the Board Chair for the Miami Valley Medical Group Management Association, the Professional Association of Healthcare Office Managers, the Therapeutic Riding Institute and served on the Ohio State Medical Group Management Association, MV Breast Cancer Task Force, and the Breast Cancer Foundation of Dayton. As the administrator for First Dayton Cancer Care, one of her favorite moments was presenting to the Ohio Senate regarding Prior Authorization Transparency for Patients and writing the cancer center’s television commercials. Kathy and her family all love to hike and spend time outdoors. Her two grown children and daughter in law, live in the area and are often spending time on her patio watching the dogs try to steal whatever her husband has on the smoker that day. Aside from being an involved parent, teaching equine assisted activities has been her primary hobby since she was in college.Jennifer Dean
Business Operations & Development
Jen is a creative and results-driven non-profit and entrepreneurial professional with passion, drive, and vision. With over 14 years of experience and expertise in generating revenue and increasing support bases within non-profit organizations, she is honored to bring her experience to such an amazing and much-needed organization. Jen is a graduate of the University of Dayton with a Masters’s degree in Public Administration. Her varied background working in non-profit organizations from arts & culture to social service brings a diverse skill set to manage the business operations and development side of the organization.If you’re looking for me, just follow the smell of manure and you will likely find me in the barn. Good days and bad days, there is nothing that can’t be solved in the barn, in the saddle, or just simply sitting in the stall. We live the equestrian lifestyle on our farm with our four horses. I am passionate about the human-horse connection and experience it on a daily basis. I believe that what draws most people to be with horses is a feeling. Just seeing or being with a horse has the ability to make you feel good. The creation of a relationship with a horse can make you feel good about yourself. Just as they do with those afflicted with life-challenging mental and emotional wounds, horses can provide anyone with the opportunity to experience valuable feelings of unconditional self-acceptance and positive self-esteem.Alison Levin
Board Member
Alison graduated from Wright State University in 2008 with her undergraduate degree in Early Childhood Education. After teaching for ten years, She went back to achieve a graduate degree from Miami University in 2018, earning a Masters of Art in Teaching.
Alison knows from experience that teaching children doesn’t just occur in the classroom. At Hoofprints, we desire to teach the whole child. Horses create the environment where pupils can blossom. Growing up owning and riding her own horses. Alison personally learned the life lessons horses teach us are innumerable. Horses create connections and help the shy become confident and the fearful become brave. “There is something about the outside of a horse that is good for the inside of a man.”“There is something about the outside of a horse that is good for the inside of a man.” – Sir Winston Churchill
