Our Founder
Ruth Nicodemus found her deep love for horses at an early age. Today, as Founder and Executive Director of The Serenity Foundation, Ruth seeks to share that deep love–and the healing power of horses–with those suffering from PTSD and survivors of trauma.
Ruth’s lifetime dedication to horses and people brought her to the top of the Hunter/Jumper show world (she continues to run a busy and successful show barn in Darien, CT). But she knew horses could help people on an even deeper level. Seeing how people with anxiety and depression transformed while being near horses, Ruth began to envision The Serenity Project–a place where survivors can heal through work with horses.
Our Partners
Kelly and Ahimsa opened up Pleasantville Wellness Group in an effort to be able to offer affordable, approachable therapy to the community. They both feel passionate about the fact that therapy should be accessible and make it a mission to be hands on and integrated in connecting with clients within the community and finding ways to serve people that might otherwise not have that access. PWG focuses on customizing therapy to meet the needs of the client and partnering with local non-profits to be able to expand upon those therapeutic offerings.
Program Director
Lynn Peters finds it hard to remember her life without horses; riding and competing as a junior and as an adult. She does remember though that she always wanted to be a teacher. As a licensed New York State educator, Lynn taught high school English for several years. She then made the decision to combine her two passions of horses and teaching becoming a professional horseman where she has spent the majority of her career teaching, training, riding and also managing barns. With a desire to give back Lynn became a member of the Professional Horsemen’s Association; a benevolent organization that raises money to help horse people in need. She served as the Fairfield Westchester Chapter President for six years and currently manages their USEF rated horse shows. For the National PHA she is on the executive board serving as the recording secretary for 20 years. Lynn is an USEF Licensed ‘Large R’ judge for the Hunter, Jumper, Hunter/Jumper Seat Equitation and Hunter Breeding divisions and has been judging for more than 25 years. As Lynn’s career path took a turn she joined the staff at Pegasus Therapeutic Riding where she worked with the volunteers teaching and training them the skills needed to work with the riders. She also became a PATH certified riding instructor teaching riding and ground skills to individuals with physical and psychological challenges, and assisted in The Equus Effect program working with veterans and trauma survivors. With a deep understanding of the profound effect horses can have upon an individual she looks forward to collaborating on developing programs at the Serenity Project so that more individuals can experience the healing powers of horses.
See Our Feature on News 12 Connecticut!
“The mission of The Serenity Project is to provide a safe and compassionate healing space for trauma survivors to heal through intimate and profound interactions with horses.”