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Melissa Vaught

Licensed Occupational Therapist

Melissa is a licensed Occupational Therapist who graduated from the Medical University of South Carolina.  She has been practicing for over 20 years primarily in the area of pediatrics.  Melissa is skilled in using sensory modalities to work with children on the Autism Spectrum.  She currently has received her micro-credentials for Autism by the National Board of Occupational Therapy.  Melissa has also received certification for treating children with sensory impairments and is SIPT certified. Having grown up with horses Melissa has always been interested in combining her skills with horses and children with Autism.  She completed Level 1 and Level 2 coursework for hippotherapy in 2006.

 

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The Fox Moon Farm Project
24 hours ago
The Fox Moon Farm Project

We're hiring! 🐴🌿

We're growing our Healing with Horses team — and we're looking for two special people to join us.

At Fox Moon Farm, we believe healing doesn't happen in a sterile office under fluorescent lights. It happens on 60 acres of Virginia farmland, alongside horses who never judge and always respond, in the quiet company of goats and gardens and open sky. If you've ever wondered what it would feel like to do deeply meaningful work in a place like that, we'd love to talk to you.

We're hiring a Licensed clinical social worker or other licensed mental health provider. This role is for someone who wants to bring their clinical skill into a farm setting — designing individualized treatment plans, leading sessions that build life skills, emotional regulation, and self-confidence, and using the horses and the land themselves as therapeutic tools. You'll work alongside our Program Director, Equine Specialist, and Life Skills team to support children, adolescents, and adults with IDD, autism spectrum conditions, and complex trauma. Current certification required; equine experience is a plus but not required — we'll train you there.

We're also hiring a Horseback Riding Instructor. This is a hands-on role for someone who genuinely loves horses and genuinely understands people — someone who can teach a beginner rider with autism just as naturally as they'd teach anyone else, adapting technique and pace to what each individual needs. A minimum of three years teaching experience and demonstrated work with special needs populations are required.

Both roles ask for the same thing, really: patience, warmth, a calm presence in moments of big emotion, and a belief that every person who comes through our gate is capable of more than they've been told.

If that sounds like you, we want to hear from you. Reach out directly to Cindy at cfrei@foxmoonfarm.org.

Come as you are. Leave with more than you imagined. That's what we offer our clients — and it's what we hope this work offers you too.

#FoxMoonFarmProject #NowHiring #HealingWithHorses #RecreationalTherapy #HorsebackRidingInstructor ... See MoreSee Less

Were hiring! 🐴🌿Were growing our Healing with Horses team — and were looking for two special people to join us.At Fox Moon Farm, we believe healing doesnt happen in a sterile office under fluorescent lights. It happens on 60 acres of Virginia farmland, alongside horses who never judge and always respond, in the quiet company of goats and gardens and open sky. If youve ever wondered what it would feel like to do deeply meaningful work in a place like that, wed love to talk to you.Were hiring a Licensed clinical social worker or other licensed mental health provider. This role is for someone who wants to bring their clinical skill into a farm setting — designing individualized treatment plans, leading sessions that build life skills, emotional regulation, and self-confidence, and using the horses and the land themselves as therapeutic tools. Youll work alongside our Program Director, Equine Specialist, and Life Skills team to support children, adolescents, and adults with IDD, autism spectrum conditions, and complex trauma. Current certification required; equine experience is a plus but not required — well train you there.Were also hiring a Horseback Riding Instructor. This is a hands-on role for someone who genuinely loves horses and genuinely understands people — someone who can teach a beginner rider with autism just as naturally as theyd teach anyone else, adapting technique and pace to what each individual needs. A minimum of three years teaching experience and demonstrated work with special needs populations are required.Both roles ask for the same thing, really: patience, warmth, a calm presence in moments of big emotion, and a belief that every person who comes through our gate is capable of more than theyve been told.If that sounds like you, we want to hear from you. Reach out directly to Cindy at cfrei@foxmoonfarm.org.Come as you are. Leave with more than you imagined. Thats what we offer our clients — and its what we hope this work offers you too.#FoxMoonFarmProject #NowHiring #HealingWithHorses #RecreationalTherapy #HorsebackRidingInstructor
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The Fox Moon Farm Project
3 days ago
The Fox Moon Farm Project

One of the most important things we teach at Fox Moon Farm isn't a skill you can see from the outside — it's the ability to recognize what's happening inside.

Many of our children, especially those on the spectrum, feel things intensely. The world moves fast, expects a lot, and rarely explains its own rules. That combination can be overwhelming. And often, kids haven't yet learned to notice a feeling building before it takes over — where anger sits in the chest, where anxiety shows up in the shoulders, what it feels like right before things get too big to manage.

This is where the horses become extraordinary teachers.

Horses are mirrors. They are prey animals, wired to read the smallest shifts in the humans around them — a tense jaw, a held breath, a racing heart — and they respond to it instantly. A child who is spiraling but doesn't know it yet will often see it reflected back first in the horse: pinned ears, a shift in weight, a step away. It's a gentle, honest kind of feedback no lecture could deliver. And once a child understands that connection, something shifts — they start paying attention to their own body, because they want the horse to feel safe with them.

From there, we build skills: deep breathing, mindfulness, "horse breath" exercises done shoulder to shoulder with a horse who breathes right along with them. And the farm itself does quiet work too — something about being near horses calms the nervous system. So does the forest. So does water. So does open air and sunlight. We don't have to manufacture calm here. We just have to make space for it.

Regulation isn't about never feeling big emotions. It's about learning to notice them, name them, and move through them without being swept away. That's a life skill that follows a child far beyond our fences.

#FoxMoonFarmProject #EmotionalRegulation #HorsesAsMirrors ... See MoreSee Less

One of the most important things we teach at Fox Moon Farm isnt a skill you can see from the outside — its the ability to recognize whats happening inside.Many of our children, especially those on the spectrum, feel things intensely. The world moves fast, expects a lot, and rarely explains its own rules. That combination can be overwhelming. And often, kids havent yet learned to notice a feeling building before it takes over — where anger sits in the chest, where anxiety shows up in the shoulders, what it feels like right before things get too big to manage.This is where the horses become extraordinary teachers.Horses are mirrors. They are prey animals, wired to read the smallest shifts in the humans around them — a tense jaw, a held breath, a racing heart — and they respond to it instantly. A child who is spiraling but doesnt know it yet will often see it reflected back first in the horse: pinned ears, a shift in weight, a step away. Its a gentle, honest kind of feedback no lecture could deliver. And once a child understands that connection, something shifts — they start paying attention to their own body, because they want the horse to feel safe with them.From there, we build skills: deep breathing, mindfulness, horse breath exercises done shoulder to shoulder with a horse who breathes right along with them. And the farm itself does quiet work too — something about being near horses calms the nervous system. So does the forest. So does water. So does open air and sunlight. We dont have to manufacture calm here. We just have to make space for it.Regulation isnt about never feeling big emotions. Its about learning to notice them, name them, and move through them without being swept away. Thats a life skill that follows a child far beyond our fences.#FoxMoonFarmProject #EmotionalRegulation #HorsesAsMirrors
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The Fox Moon Farm Project
4 days ago
The Fox Moon Farm Project

There's a moment that happens over and over again at Fox Moon Farm, and we never get tired of watching it.

A child stands at the pasture fence, sure they can't climb it. Or stares at a halter, sure their hands won't figure out the buckle. Or looks up at a horse — enormous, powerful, nothing like them — and is sure, absolutely sure, that this isn't for them.

So many of our kids arrive carrying that certainty. They've spent years being told, in a hundred small ways, that they're different — that they don't move through the world the way other kids do, don't learn the way the classroom expects, don't look or sound or act like what's "typical." That adds up. It settles into a child's sense of self long before they have words for it.

Here, we don't start with big lessons. We start with small, achievable tasks — climbing the pasture fence, hooking a halter, jumping off a rock, grooming a horse, learning to drive the tractor. Nothing flashy. Just one thing, right at the edge of what feels possible.

And when they do it — when the halter clicks, when their feet land on the other side of that fence — we celebrate. Loudly. High-fives, real "good jobs," the kind of recognition that says we saw that, and it mattered.

Confidence isn't built in a single triumphant moment. It's built task by task, the same way trust is built with a horse — slowly, and only through proof. Every small win here becomes evidence a child can carry with them: I did the thing I didn't think I could do. That evidence adds up to something society hasn't handed them: the belief that they are capable.

That's the work. One fence, one halter, one hoof pick at a time. ... See MoreSee Less

Theres a moment that happens over and over again at Fox Moon Farm, and we never get tired of watching it.A child stands at the pasture fence, sure they cant climb it. Or stares at a halter, sure their hands wont figure out the buckle. Or looks up at a horse — enormous, powerful, nothing like them — and is sure, absolutely sure, that this isnt for them.So many of our kids arrive carrying that certainty. Theyve spent years being told, in a hundred small ways, that theyre different — that they dont move through the world the way other kids do, dont learn the way the classroom expects, dont look or sound or act like whats typical. That adds up. It settles into a childs sense of self long before they have words for it.Here, we dont start with big lessons. We start with small, achievable tasks — climbing the pasture fence, hooking a halter, jumping off a rock, grooming a horse, learning to drive the tractor. Nothing flashy. Just one thing, right at the edge of what feels possible.And when they do it — when the halter clicks, when their feet land on the other side of that fence — we celebrate. Loudly. High-fives, real good jobs, the kind of recognition that says we saw that, and it mattered.Confidence isnt built in a single triumphant moment. Its built task by task, the same way trust is built with a horse — slowly, and only through proof. Every small win here becomes evidence a child can carry with them: I did the thing I didnt think I could do. That evidence adds up to something society hasnt handed them: the belief that they are capable.Thats the work. One fence, one halter, one hoof pick at a time.
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