Camper Dylan and UBU Therapy Farms goat Mal. During UBU’s first ever summer camp, which ran from July 6 to July 22, kids between the ages of 6 and 18 attended twice a week for three hours.
Courtesy Photo
UBU Therapy Farms was created by mental health therapist Pamela Wheeler, who purchased the farm’s site in southwest Lincoln with her husband Jody Martinson in 2018. The farm’s name “UBU†is meant to signify a place where everyone feels welcome to be themselves, she said.
Courtesy Photo
A goat at UBU Therapy Farms
Courtesy photo
A camper pets one of the animals at UBU Therapy Farms.
Courtesy photo
A camper hangs out with the animals at UBU Therapy Farms.
Courtesy photo
A camper pets a goat at UBU Therapy Farms.
Courtesy photo
The farm is home to two mini Chondro calves Wheeler and Martinson purchased from a family in Custer County. Mini goats, turkeys, cats and dogs also call the therapy farm home.
As Angie Hoffschneider explained how she had finally found a camp she could send her 11-year-old son Liam to without getting complaints about his behavior, she was brought to tears.
For parents of special-needs children, discovering UBU Therapy Farms, where children with a range of ability levels could both have fun and learn vital social-emotional skills, felt like a miracle.
“Liam has gone to other summer camps, but this place I think just made him feel comfortable and where he could be himself and welcomed and accepted, and that's a rare find,†Hoffschneider said.
During UBU’s first ever summer camp, which ran from July 6 to July 22, kids between the ages of 6 and 18 attended twice a week for three hours.
UBU Therapy Farms was created by mental health therapist Pamela Wheeler, who purchased the farm’s site in southwest Lincoln with her husband Jody Martinson in 2018. The farm’s name “UBU†is meant to signify a place where everyone feels welcome to be themselves, she said.
Over the course of the coronavirus pandemic, Wheeler and her husband worked to convert the property’s barn into offices, create an enclosed area and stalls for the farm’s animals and build several wheelchair-accessible planting beds.
The farm is home to two mini Chondro calves Wheeler and Martinson purchased from a family in Custer County. Mini goats, turkeys, cats and dogs also call the therapy farm home.
Besides being fun to interact with, the animals also play a part in Wheeler’s therapy practices.
Wheeler holds a certification from the University of Denver in animal assisted therapies, and she uses the concept of care farming, in which farming activities are used to help clients feel comfortable and create a positive learning environment.
“I use these animals as kind of a catalyst to speed warp the therapeutic alliance," she said. "They want to come back because they feel like part of this place.â€
About half of the camp time was spent working on social skills, mindfulness and emotional regulation, Wheeler said. The other half included activities such as yoga, art projects, planting seeds and interacting with the farm’s animals.
Response to UBU's first ever camp has been very enthusiastic, Wheeler said, and she hopes to hold an even bigger camp next year and start holding after-school programs depending on the interest of the community.
“People are pretty excited about it,†she said. “They're excited about having a space where they feel connected, where they feel like they can be themselves."
Wheeler herself has a 22-year-old special needs son who lives with her and her husband. Parents said her background as both a therapist and a special needs mom herself made her a perfect leader for the camp.
“What I think is really awesome is that all three of my boys are on different levels of capability, but they all are included and get an enriched experience,†said Kendall Bowers, who had three sons attend or volunteer at the camp.
Bowers said it was amazing to see her sons enjoying activities at camp such as yoga, which they’d never shown interest in. Her middle son is also in a wheelchair, and she said she appreciated the level of accessibility at UBU.
“We were able to push him around anywhere out here at UBU,†she said. “We don't get that anywhere, it’s very rare.â€
Parents also said they were grateful for the community they had found among themselves through UBU, something they plan to continue to foster through future programs at the farm.
“We might not have (another) outlet to come and bring our kids all together,†Bowers said. “A place that they can all be somewhere, be together, do activities together.â€
Camper Dylan and UBU Therapy Farms goat Mal. During UBU’s first ever summer camp, which ran from July 6 to July 22, kids between the ages of 6 and 18 attended twice a week for three hours.
UBU Therapy Farms was created by mental health therapist Pamela Wheeler, who purchased the farm’s site in southwest Lincoln with her husband Jody Martinson in 2018. The farm’s name “UBU†is meant to signify a place where everyone feels welcome to be themselves, she said.
The farm is home to two mini Chondro calves Wheeler and Martinson purchased from a family in Custer County. Mini goats, turkeys, cats and dogs also call the therapy farm home.