Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Jackie Carlino. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Jackie, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear about how you went about setting up your own practice and if you have any advice for professionals who might be considering starting their own?
In 2023, after getting my LPC-Associate from the state of Texas, I decided against others advice to start my own practice. Not only did I want to start my own counseling center, I did it in a small town, with no start up capital. I mean zero. I felt like God was telling me to help others so I just did. I opened the doors to Joyful Ranch Counseling in Aug 2023. I was financially struggling in my personal life due to leaving an 80k a year job for a 1 year low pay internship. It was hard but I continued to follow what God put on my heart. I started advertising by posting on Facebook. I went into a few local groups in the area and told people I was starting an equine assisted therapy group for teen girls. By Dec 2023 that group was full. I learned quickly that in my small town people did not have the money to do one on one sessions on a farm with animals so I decided in May 2024 to become a nonprofit and offer low prices on a sliding scale fee basis for individual counseling sessions. I learned quickly that being a nonprofit is not always easy but I continued to serve the community and put people’s mental health above the finances. I even offered a few individual sessions for free. My equine assisted teen therapy groups continued to grow and more individual sessions were being booked weekly. Now in 2025 joyful Ranch Counseling is growing again. Offering for the first time in Springtown tx intensive outpatient group therapy summer camps, using trauma focused therapy along with equine assisted therapy. One of my biggest lessons was learning how to rescue horses, care for them properly, train them, and use them in my program. It has been a learning curve I certainly did not expect to have. It has been such a blessing for me to be able to provide the horses and people a safe place to heal from trauma and anxiety in thier lives.
Jackie, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
As a single mom of 6 at 30 years old I started my own healing journey trying to work through my childhood trauma and unhealthy relationship choices. I started a class for holistic kinesiology and in that class I learned about eft tapping. In 2013 eft tapping was just starting to become popular, but it really helped me alot. I woke up everyday and used this tool for my own healing. I started using some other mental health tools also like prayer ministry all to help myself and my 6 kids overcome some trauma. As a child I was sex trafficked, this trauma lead to a life full of bad decisions on my part. But at 30 my eyes opened and I realized I needed to get help so my kids who were almost teens could have healing in thier lives too. After learning about the human body and overall health and wellness in the kinesiology class. I brought it out into the world and started trying to help people. However, the more I tried to help people with thier physical issues the more I realized their issues where related to mental health. So a few years later, still as a single mom, I went back to college to get my masters degree in counseling. Over the next few years of school I learned to put my knowledge of the human body functions, eft tapping, prayer and counseling together. This combination of therapy completely changed my life. I went from a person with severe PTSD to a steady safe life and mind.
Just before graduation. In 2021 I met the man of dreams and moved to a few acres in Texas! We both really felt like we needed to learn to homestead, so we could live off the land God provided for us. We started with mini pigs and chickens. It has been really fun learning to farm! However, we had no idea how much it would cost and how hard it could be at times. Truly though I have enjoyed it. After graduation with a masters in counseling I had to do a 1 year internship where I would sit in an office and counsel people. I hated sitting in an office all day and quickly learned that many people feel the same way. So I decided to start Joyful Ranch Counseling even though everyone told me not to. I was told the best thing to do was to continue working at other jobs as a counselor for another 2 years then start a practice. I prayed about it but really felt like I needed to provide the community with a safe and peaceful place to do counseling outside. What better way to do that than on my farm!
Joyful Ranch Counseling serves teens to elderly by using a unique style of counseling where you learn hands on coping skills, alongside the animals on the farm. Much of this is done with rescued horses, but sometimes people want to just sit with the mini pigs or the dogs. Sometimes people just want sit by the duck pond. That’s the beauty of counseling on a farm there is no wrong answer, or one place you need to be. Client’s come and work through trauma on a farm full of animals. This combined with the other trauma centered tools helps people feel peaceful and safe while working through heavy things, and at an affordable rate.
One of my goals as a trauma counselor is to open a home for sex trafficked teen girls where they live in this place of peace and get intensive counseling, life skills, and healing from thier trauma.
Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?
After only 6 months in business as a llc i realized that the cost of counseling can be to much sometimes for people who are struggling with thier mental health. So I pivoted my business by opening a nonprofit. I did this to offer low cost counseling to the community. I also made this decision to help cover the cost of the now 4 rescued horses on the property. My goal is to use rescued horses to help rescue people from mental health struggles.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
While going to school to get my masters degree in counseling I worked over night shift as a truck driver. As a single mom of 6 I needed to be available for my kids during the day. So I would often listen to my school books while driving the truck. On break at work when everyone was socializing I would sit in my truck and do quizzes. I have often worked 2,3, sometimes 4 jobs to support my kids and make my dream of owning a business from my home a reality. Thanks to God’s grace, great kids, and my parents I finally got thier.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://Www.joyfulranchcounseling.com
- Facebook: https://Www.facebook.com/joyfulranchcounseling
Image Credits
All the photos were taken by me