Future Expansion Plans
The James Storehouse Therapeutic Day Ranch
We are happy to announce that exploration is underway for a therapeutic day ranch. The James Storehouse Day Ranch will be a transformative, healing space where children and families impacted by foster care or considered at-risk can rebuild trust, develop resilience, and break generational cycles of trauma through equine therapy, counseling, and hands-on restorative experiences. We will offer an innovative, empowering alternative to traditional therapy that helps children process their past, develop coping skills, and rewrite their futures.
Therapeutic Day Ranch
California's foster care crisis highlights the urgent need for holistic, trauma-informed services. The James Storehouse Day Ranch will offer a valuable alternative to traditional therapy, allowing children and families to heal in a supportive, nature-based environment. This initiative aims to transform the lives of foster youth and families by addressing their emotional and psychological needs accessibly. Currently, there are no free, therapeutic, holistic day ranch options specifically for those impacted by foster care. The James Storehouse Day Ranch uniquely combines experiential, trauma-informed healing in a natural, community-oriented setting.
What Makes It New and Different?
Healing Through Experience – Our approach uses hands-on, sensory-based therapies like equine therapy, art, and farm-to-table experiences which help children overcome trauma more effectively than traditional talk therapy.
Safe, Home-Like Environment – The Day Ranch offers a welcoming setting that promotes comfort, trust, and engagement, contrasting with sterile clinical offices.
Family-Centered Approach – We support both children and their caregivers, equipping families with skills for long-term healing and stability, rather than focusing solely on the child.
Breaking Generational Cycles – Our goal is to disrupt cycles of trauma in foster care by providing early intervention and life skills, empowering families to build better futures.
Addressing Service Gaps – Many at-risk families and aged out youth lack access to holistic mental health support. The Day Ranch provides accessible alternatives for these underserved groups.
Open concept kitchen... This space can also be used for milieu therapy.
Why It Is More Effective:
A sense of community and belonging counters the isolation that most foster youth experience.
Equine therapy has been shown to reduce anxiety, build trust, and improve emotional regulation in youth with trauma histories.
Art therapy and hands-on creative expression allow youth to process complex emotions when words fall short.
Gardening, cooking, and working with animals foster a sense of responsibility, purpose, and connection—key protective factors against negative outcomes.
Workshops for foster youth and their caregivers address bereavement, trauma recovery, communication, and life skills, ensuring a family-centered approach to healing.
Empowering families ensures the child’s healing extends beyond their time at the Ranch. This innovative model meets foster youth where they are, offering a path to healing that feels natural, safe, and effective—far beyond what traditional systems provide.
This innovative model supports youth in care, those who have aged out, and their caregiving families, offering a natural, safe, and effective healing path beyond traditional systems.
The James Storehouse Day Ranch is shaped by individuals with experience in the child welfare system, focusing on the needs of foster youth and families. Executive Director Stacy DeWitt, a former foster and adoptive mother, has spent 30 years assisting vulnerable populations. Her experiences have influenced a trauma-responsive, community-based alternative to traditional therapy that supports youth and caregivers. The James Storehouse team, consisting of adoptive and foster parents, brings firsthand knowledge of service gaps, barriers to healing, and the necessity for innovative, accessible solutions.
Designed with Input from Foster Youth
Our program is shaped by foster youth voices, including those who aged out and faced homelessness, incarceration, or trafficking.
We found that:
Traditional therapy can be sterile and intimidating.
Non-verbal, experiential therapies (like equine therapy, art, farm-to-table experiences, and nature activities) help youth process trauma more effectively.
Foster youth thrive in safe, familial, and community-driven environments.
This is why the James Storehouse Day Ranch is unique. It understands that healing occurs through experience, relationships, and belonging.
Why We Are Ready to Launch the James Storehouse Day Ranch:
Unlike many organizations that rely on theoretical models, James Storehouse has a decade-long track record of hands-on, frontline experience with the exact population the Day Ranch will serve.
• We already serve thousands of children and families each year.
• We already have strong county and state partnerships to scale the program successfully.
• We already understand the urgent need for alternative, experiential healing methods that go beyond traditional therapy.
We have the trust, expertise, and infrastructure to make the James Storehouse Day Ranch a reality. This project is not just an idea—it is the natural next step in our mission to rewrite the future for foster youth. If you would like more information or to give a gift to James Storehouse to make this dream a reality, please reach out to Stacy DeWitt at Stacy@JamesStorehouse,org.