Meet Karen
Karen Finch, Founder & Facilitator
Stable Within™
Karen's Certifications & Training
Equine Experiential Education Facilitator
Equine Experiential Education Association
Professional Life Coach
Certified Life Coach Institute
Equine Specialist in Mental Health & Learning
Professional Association of Therapeutic Horsemanship
Equine-Assisted Therapist
Natural Lifemanship® Institute
Integrated Equine Performance Bodywork
The Masterson Method®
For more than three decades, as a school counselor, 911 dispatcher, and equine-experiential educator, I've supported children, families, educators, and first responders through wonderfully ordinary days and incredibly difficult ones.
I've also spent nearly 30 years alongside the first responder community through my husband's service as a firefighter and member of Search and Rescue. I've seen what the job asks of people and what can follow them home.
Along the way, I've studied stress, trauma, the nervous system, resilience, and what helps people adapt and recover. Working alongside horses opened up a different way of learning; immediate, honest, experiential, and hard to forget.
Stable Within brings those worlds together: what I've learned from science, from people, from experience, and from horses.
Meet Banjo
A First Responder Therapy Dog
Some of life's best moments happen beside a good dog.
My Australian Shepherd and sidekick, Banjo, is certified with First Responder Therapy Dogs, a wonderful non-profit offering free visits to any first responder. Together, Banjo and I visit first responders where they work.
Banjo shows up and people light up. She brings comfort when words are hard to find, connection when days are difficult, and a reminder that even in heavy moments, there's still room for a little joy.
Sometimes finding your way back begins with a horse... and a very good dog.