Who We Are and What We Do
CEADS - Conscious Effort Awareness Development Services IRS-registered - charitable non-profit organization-501(c)3. EIN# 39-4082287
Who We Benefit
CEADs is committed to sharing traditional Lakota cultural wisdom and equine horse therapy experiences as a pathway of powerful healing for underserved populations working through individual, ancestral, and collective trauma.
We work directly with substance abuse and chemically dependent individuals, military veterans, marginalized and oppressed populations, Native and Indigenous communities, and at-risk youth. CEADS proceeds and services are directed to benefit these populations.
How We Serve
We facilitate traveling workshops and retreats to support the expansion of awareness through traditional cultural practices, spiritual healing experiences, creative self-expression, and intentional community that reconnect people with their own innate wisdom. We go beyond the modern Western psychological approach to healing and root into a foundation of Indigenous wisdom traditions.
Our retreats and workshops provide attendees with the opportunity to learn ancient Lakota (Native American) medicine wisdom and healing techniques, cultural horse healing, talking and processing circles, active visualizations, and conscious release exercises for healing individual, ancestral, and collective trauma.
Our Mission and How We Give Back
Our mission is to help shatter the lies and break the spells of “I’m not good enough, there’s not enough, and that’s just the way it is” which afflict so many individuals in modern Western culture.
Our retreats, workshops, spiritual counseling services, and charitable contribution proceeds enable us to provide low-cost and no-cost programming for the communities we serve.
All of our retreats and events are supported by a wider community of horse-handlers, venue partners, and complementary psychospiritual healing practitioners. We are deeply grateful for Creator and the constellation of beings (human and non-human alike) who support our work.
Mitakuye Oyasin
Douglas’ Unique Horse Healing Process
Douglas’ Lakota cultural equine horse therapy process is like none other. It’s based on the traditional Native American spiritual belief that horses, like all animals, are spiritual entities that have roles in tribal culture. The horses are the clinicians, not humans. Half the horse is in the spirit world, and the other half is here. A horse can tell you things about yourself that you didn’t know.
Douglas’ process starts by introducing the horses to the individual in need of therapy. After approximately 15-20 minutes, the horses will diagnose the individual’s issues, if they reside in physical, mental, and/or emotional abuse. The horse will then give the individual a nudge, letting them know it is OK to release everything onto the horse, reinforcing that the horse is willing to take it from them.
Horses unload emotional baggage through biological purging (urination/defecation), giving it back to Mother Earth. It is here that both the person and the horse rid themselves of their troubles. When the horse is finished, it teaches us even more. The horse will find a spot, roll around on the ground, then stand up and shake. As counselors, they are teaching us to re-center ourselves.
Horses have no kind of sin. They are right with God. It is humans who are off track.
Douglas Widow Jr. - President
My Lakota name is Wohpapi. My name is Douglas Widow Jr. I am from the Cheyanne River Sioux tribe. My family comes from the Hollow Horn, Kills Alive – Lone Eagle, Yellow Shield. In amongst, Builds Fire, and Brown Thunder. I have been working with horses since I was a young man. I have five children, I am widowed, and I currently work in Santee Sioux Nation, Nebraska as an IOP (Intensive Outpatient Program) counselor using Lakota cultural practices. I use horses as healers, and my first language is Lakota. I have been sober for 37 years.
I hold two Associate of Arts (AA) degrees, one in substance abuse addictions and one in Pastoral studies. However, I am an expert in Lakota language and culture. I feel that it is better for me to have wisdom, “Wooksape” than knowledge.
There are three important objectives of the work that I do with horses and teaching Lakota Cultural Wisdom:
-Teaching healing/ self-healing knowledge through traditional Native medicine
-Exploring Native culture as a healing mechanism
-Looking at the role of storytelling in the treatment process
Watch a conversation between Douglas and Gail Hayssen, recorded November 5th, 2025, and released December 10th, 2025, on Gail’s podcast, “A Small Medium at Large” here:
Jeffery Ellis Heilman - CEO
My name is Jeffery Ellis Heilman. My Lakota name is Chetan Kinyan Omani Wicasa. I was born in a small eastern Oregon town called Baker City. My family moved to Portland, Oregon, when I was 3 months old. I grew up and currently live in Portland, Oregon. I have two children, and I am a single father. I am a dedicated musician, I hold a master’s degree in East-West psychology, and I am a certified spiritual counselor.
In 2013, after 15 years of severe opioid dependence and poly-substance abuse, I found myself incarcerated, serving three years in prison. During my time in prison, I found my spiritual path and practice consisting of Buddhism, Taoism, and Lakota sweat ceremony (inipi). After my release from prison in 2016, I pursued my career in education and spiritual path simultaneously. Through a series of synchronistic events, I found myself in South Dakota participating in the sacred Lakota Sundance ceremony in 2022. I met Douglas during my second year Sundancing in 2023. In 2024, we started talking about potentially working together to spiritually address the mental health issues that the people of this world currently face. In 2025, I completed my master’s program as well as my fourth year Sundancing in South Dakota. We founded CEADS together in August 2025.
Watch a conversation between Jeffery and Gail Hayssen, recorded November 7th, 2025, and released December 17th, 2025, on Gail’s podcast, “A Small Medium at Large” here: