Today we’d like to introduce you to Caitlin Kolba.
Hi Caitlin, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I moved around a lot as a kid – various places in New Jersey, then Pennsylvania, before ultimately relocating to Virginia with my mom and siblings. The one constant for me no matter where I went was horses. No matter what I was dealing with, being around horses made me feel more grounded and myself. I attended mental health therapy as a teen and participated in individual and family therapy sessions. The sessions were minimally helpful for me and I struggled greatly with my own mental health through my adolescence.
Growing up, I knew that I eventually wanted to be the adult that I needed when I was a teen. I wanted to be someone who would listen to the kids and teens, who offered resources that actually worked, and was able to blend horses into someone else’s healing journey. During young adulthood, I also struggled with personal traumas, losses, and terrible relationships. Through it all, I took the courses, did the internships, logged the hours, and eventually graduated with my MSW and achieved my license as a Licensed Clinical Social Worker.
I moved back to Pennsylvania in March of 2020 as the world was shutting down due to COVID and I had to learn who I was while also learning how to get to the grocery store. I now own StableMind Wellness, LLC, which has successfully blended evidence based mental health interventions and treatment of people with powerful interactions with horses since February of 2024.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
I experienced significant traumas and losses throughout my life including multiple relocations, a split parent household, abusive partner relationships, the abrupt death of a parent figure, the loss of several close friends in a traumatic car accident, the deaths of supportive pets, and extreme bullying.
I struggled with self-harm, suicidal ideation and low self-worth as a teenager. I wrestled with understanding my purpose and where I fit in the world. I’ve gone through horrific breakups and have lost friends along the way. These challenges felt like they were going to break me in the moment but they’ve made me the empathetic, passionate human that I am today. I have to believe that all of that loss was laying the groundwork to be the solid person in someone else’s life when they feel like they’re drowning.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
StableMind Wellness is a mental health and wellness company focused on meeting people where they are and providing solutions that work. We focus on evidence based modalities and aim to continue learning new methods of treatment in order to help people find themselves or get their lives back. We specialize in anxiety management, trauma treatment, and overall wellness. We are known for our Equine Assisted Psychotherapy program which blends evidence based therapy modalities such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy with interactions with horses. A typical session may include petting or grooming a horse while engaging in a mindfulness activity, leading a horse to incorporate movement while processing a recent stressor, or something similar. We are set apart by this program and the fact that we accept most commercial insurances for our services. We also provide telehealth across the state of Pennsylvania and have an office for traditional outpatient sessions in Bethlehem. We are proud to incorporate different service lines that can meet the needs of kids, teens and adults in any setting. We love working with people who say they’ve tried therapy before and it didn’t work. We value the opportunity to treat mental health as whole body wellness and help people understand the impact their nervous system has on their overall functioning.
What’s next?
Our plans for the future include continuing to expand our team and our locations. We currently are a solid team of five with additional room to grow. We seek to be an organization that works to train up new clinicians and we provide licensure supervision for LSWs. We eventually would like to include licensure supervision for LAPCs as well. Our Equine Assisted Therapy program is currently located in Bangor, and eventually we hope to expand to other areas of the Lehigh Valley in the future. We are currently partnering with local wellness practitioners including energy healers, reiki providers, and massage therapists in order to offer wrap around services in our Bethlehem office.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.stablemindwellness.org
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stablemindwellness/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61555793948437
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/caitlinkolba/
- Other: https://psychologytoday.com/profile/883717
