Melissa Jean Jarzynski is a trauma-informed physical therapist and one of the few board-certified Hippotherapy Clinical Specialists practicing in the United States. For more than two decades she has worked directly with individuals navigating trauma, chronic pain, neurological conditions, and nervous system dysregulation.
Her clinical work integrates traditional rehabilitation science with equine-assisted therapeutic environments — allowing her to observe how changes in the human nervous system influence both movement and relational dynamics in real time. She teaches trauma-informed approaches to nervous system regulation to clinicians and participants seeking new ways to understand the relationship between physiology, emotion, and connection.
Melissa is a co-founder of the Stable Friendships Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to helping pediatric and adult participants experience the therapeutic benefits of working with horses. Her work sits at the intersection of rehabilitation science, somatic awareness, and ethical partnership with horses — the foundation for everything explored here.