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 medicine wisdom and horse therapy experiences as a pathway of powerful healing for populations working through individual, ancestral, and collective trauma.
We work directly with substance abuse and chemically dependent individuals, military veterans, Native and Indigenous communities, individuals experiencing varied levels of trauma, mental health disability, grief, 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 holds the potential to reconnect people with their own innate wisdom. We go beyond the modern Western psychological approach to healing. CEADS is rooted in a foundation of Native/Indigenous wisdom traditions.
Our retreats and workshops provide attendees with opportunities to learn ancient Lakota (Native American) cultural 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 that we have been collectively programmed to accept and believe, consisting of:
I am not good enough.
There is not enough.
That is just the way it is.
Our retreats, workshops, spiritual counseling services, and charitable contribution proceeds enable us to provide low-cost and no-cost services for the communities we serve.
All of our retreats and events are supported by a wide community of horse people, 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:
Here is a beautiful article published in March 2026 in Nebraska Magazine on Douglas’ Horse Healing Process: https://nebraskamagazine.org/sacred-horses-sacred-healing
