Vicky Carregal
Executive Director & Physical Therapist
Vicky Carregal, MSPT serves as the Executive Director of Horseplay Therapy Center. Vicky graduated from University of North Florida in 2002 with a Masters of Science in Physical Therapy and has spent 20 years working with children. She lives in St. Augustine, FL with her husband and two boys. Vicky loves running Horseplay Therapy Center, but she is a therapist at heart and continues to treat patients. Once she discovered the effectiveness of hippotherapy in 2014, she strived to make it available to all who would benefit from it. Vicky is proud to be the founder of Horseplay Therapy Center and hopes that lives will continue to be changed through the therapy they provide and the love and care that goes along with it!
Melinda Clark
Occupational Therapist
Since receiving her Master’s in Occupational Therapy from the University of St. Augustine in 2008, Melinda has worked in the pediatric field, providing services to children with a wide variety of diagnoses in home, clinic and preschool settings. She has been working in hippotherapy since 2013 and absolutely loves utilizing horses to help children gain strength, improve sensory processing, gain confidence, and develop social skills. Melinda is also a trained Therapeutic Listening and Integrated Listening System (iLs) provider. Melinda lives in St. Augustine with her husband and two sons and enjoys being outdoors in nature, traveling, music, and cozying up with a good book.
Ken Mixon
Ken Mixon retired in from Sea Star Lines in 2012 and decided that his real work needed to begin! He is one of the original volunteers at Horseplay Therapy. Known by all as “Mr Ken”, he is willing to do anything needed to help a hippotherapy session be successful. This often means talking like cookie monster, or singing the requested song of the day over and over and over and over again. Mr Ken is loved by our families and staff, and adored by our patients. He loves watching the kids progress and is always ready to celebrate when they do great things! We are so thankful for Mr. Ken!
Katie Cammack Eller
Director of Development & Speech-Language Pathologist
Katie received her Bachelors in Communication Sciences and Disorders and Masters in Speech-Language Pathology from Saint Louis University in 2015 and 2017. Since graduating, Katie has worked in the pediatric field, serving medically fragile children in the Physician Prescribed Extended Care (PPEC) and outpatient settings. Katie’s interests in the field include augmentative communication, early language delays and disorders, and pediatric dysphagia treatment and management. Katie wears several hats here at HorsePlay Therapy! While she serves our children with speech, language, and feeding difficulties, she also serves as our Director of Development. Katie loves using hippotherapy in her treatment and the interdisciplinary benefits it provides. Katie’s favorite horse is Prince. Katie and her husband live in St. Augustine with their two beloved pups!
Kayla Yingst
Physical Therapy Assisstant
After her collegiate soccer career, Kayla received her degree as a Physical Therapy Assistant at Keiser University in Jacksonville. Kayla has experience in orthopedics and brings an orthopedic and athletic element to our team! Kayla recently received her Manual Physical Therapist Assistant Certification. Kayla loves utilizing the horses to better understand each patient’s body mechanics in treatment. Kayla’s favorite horse is Ringo! Kayla is married and enjoys spending time with her family, training her dogs, and playing or coaching soccer.
Amanda Edwards
Physical Therapy Assistant
Amanda has a lifetime of experience with horses, which she brings to her treatment! Amanda was born and raised in St. Augustine, where she grew up riding and ranching. Her uncle, who had cerebral palsy and epilepsy rode with her often, which sparked a yearning to pursue hippo therapy very early on! Amanda then received her Physical Therapy Assistant degree at Florida State College in Jacksonville and has been a pediatric PTA for over 10 years, but has also worked in acute care, home health, and outpatient settings. Amanda and her husband have two young children, and live on a small farm with two horses of their own. Amanda is most likely to be found outdoors; hiking, camping, or riding horses!
Chelsea McHose
Barn manager and Equine Specialist
Chelsea is a busy bee! Not only does she serve as an Equine Professional for our RiseUp for Veterans Program, she also is our barn manager. She is in charge of our horse’s nutrition, training, and overall care. Chelsea carries a certification and license in massage therapy and as an Equine Professional holds a Level 2 Certification in Natural Lifemanship. Prior to working at HorsePlay, Chelsea’s career incorporated a combination of Equine management at both large boarding facilities and private farms, horse training, riding lessons, and tech work with an Equine dentist out of Gainesville/Ocala. Chelsea so obviously loves all of our horses, but has an extra special connection with Prince and Maeva.
Toree Brown
Admin/Scheduling
Sally Brocker
Sally received her undergraduate degree from University of Maryland and went to graduate school for her Masters in Occupational Therapy at Trinity Washington University. She maintains a certification in Therapeutic Listening and loves all things sensory! She is passionate about universal design, and making environments and tools accessible to all. Sally also loves finding new board games and card games to incorporate into sessions to promote functional play, and a variety of fine, gross, and visual motor skills. In her free time, she loves spending time with her sheepadoodles, Fern and Sunday, at the beach! Sally’s favorite horse at the time is Sir, but really, she loves them all!
Elyssa Male
Speech Language Pathologist
Elyssa received her Masters in Speech-Language Pathology from Fontebonne University, where she was an interdisciplinary preparation of Teachers of the Deaf and Speech-Language Pathologists grant recipient. Elyssa’s interests in the field include Augmentative Alternative Communication, Autism, and learning ASL and more about Deaf culture. Elyssa grew up in the midwest amongst farmers, and loved visiting her uncle’s horses when she was young, and so utilizing horses in her practice is extra special. Elyssa loves Woody and Prince. If not at the barn, you can find Elyssa under the sun: kayaking, paddle boarding, and going to the beach!
Mary Dreggors
Mary is a licensed mental health counselor who serves on our RiseUp team! Mary graduated from Stetson University with a bachelors in psychology in 2016 and a Master’s of Science in Clinical Mental Health Counseling in 2019. Since graduation, Mary has joined the National Council on Mental Wellbeing-Youth, become a Mental Health First Aid Instructor, and certified in OK Corral Equine Assisted Psychotherapy and Equine Assisted Therapy, and is a PATH Certified ESMHL. Mary is specialized in working with adolescents and adults in the areas of attention disorders, depression, anxiety, trauma and PTSD. Her goal is to provide a safe space for clients to explore their thoughts and feelings and believes that horses can bring a great deal into the process of gaining insight, growth and healing. In her free time, Mary loves all things agriculture! Mary and her fiance own a small homestead farm where they are gardening and raising dogs, goats, chickens, views and their horse Zeb (photo). Mary’s favorite horse to use in treatment is River- because he is perfect for his job!
Judy Bechtold
Marjorie O'Loughlin
Katie Cramer
Physical Therapist
Katie is our newest addition to the team! Katie received her Doctorate of Physical Therapy from University of St Augustine in Health Sciences. She is passionate about pediatrics and loves that she can help kids achieve their goals and participate in activities they enjoy! In her free time, Katie loves to be outside playing basketball or pickleball and spending time with family and friends. Katie’s favorite horse is Captain!
Shelly Raymond
MA., LPC, MFT
Shelley is a Licensed Professional Counselor (Texas) and a Marriage and Family Therapist (Florida). She is a professional in Natural Lifemanship and trauma-focused equine assisted psychotherapy. She has thousands of hours of direct client contact with a diverse range of diagnosis specializing in issues of PTSD and Trauma, anger management, grief, depression and anxiety. She provides trauma sensitive care utilizing Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), Brain Spotting, Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT), Internal Family Systems (IFS) and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). Her youthful passion and love for horses was the catalyst for combining trauma healing therapy with horses.
Hannah Schaper
Occupational Therapist
Hannah earned her undergraduate degree from The University of Alabama (Roll Tide!) and her Master’s in Occupational Therapy from the University of St. Augustine for Health Sciences. She focuses on sensory integration, regulation, and social/emotional skills development. During sessions, Hannah loves to let her creativity shine by crafting fun games that promote a variety of fine, gross, and visual motor skills via functional play. Having grown up overseas in the foreign service, Hannah first fell in love with horses while riding competitively in Nairobi, Kenya. She later continued her equestrian journey as a Division I athlete at The University of Alabama. Bringing horses into her therapy practice is truly living the dream! In her downtime, you can find Hannah enjoying life’s simple joys with her husband, Harrison, and their two Springer Spaniels, Monty and Lucy. Her favorite horse, Prince, has a special place in her heart because he loves to nap — just like her! But truth be told, she loves all of her equine partners equally.
Morgan Lewis
Join Our Team!
HorsePlay Therapy is growing our team!
See below for opportunities to make a difference in the lives of children and veterans in Northeast Florida
Current Openings
Barn Maintenance, Part time
Speech-Language Pathologist, Part time or full time
Occupational Therapist, PRN
Physical Therapist, PRN
Licensed Mental Health Counseling, PRN
Please contact us at [email protected] with your resume and availability for a phone interview.
HorsePlay is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We are committed to the inclusion of and full participation by all persons in the achievement of our mission.
