Leaving behind the formal, sterile atmosphere of office clinics, therapists and patients relax together at a ranch to discover how . . . : Nature Heals Minds

Debbie Schwartz was raped as a child and haunted as an adult.

“Every time my husband touched me, I jumped,” said Schwartz, 26, formerly of Palmdale. “I couldn’t trust him.”

Years of counseling didn’t help. The cramped, almost claustrophobic atmosphere of a therapist’s office only rekindled her anxieties.

“I felt trapped in their offices,” she said. “When a door closes behind me, I feel I can’t get out.”

Finally, in late 1990, Schwartz sought therapy at a ranch in Agua Dulce, about 35 miles northeast of Los Angeles, among the trees, horses and frontier. She developed a close bond with a horse named Sis. She brushed her, petted her and talked to her. But she was afraid to ride her. Finally, after weeks of therapy, she took a chance.

“The turning point for Debbie was when she took that ride,” said Diane Davies-Tong, her therapist. “Once she did it, other things paled in comparison. Other things didn’t seem as overwhelming. She gained control of her life by gaining control of her inner self.”

Schwartz received treatment at the California Center for Family Wellness, a 90-acre ranch where psychological counselors combine traditional family therapy with a recipe of tender outdoor nurturing. Therapists use the environment to relax their patients and show them that, with appropriate care, they, like nature, can heal themselves and get on with their lives.

The center was established in 1987 by Davies-Tong, a former Las Vegas nightclub singer who used to show horses competitively. After flirting with a journalism career in the 1970s, Davies-Tong took a psychology class at Long Beach City College and was hooked.

Today, Davies-Tong, 52, and her assistant, Dana Schutz, 27, treat about 60 patients a week who are victims of abuse or neglect. Davies-Tong is a licensed marriage, family and child specialist who earned a master’s degree in psychology at Pepperdine University. Schutz, who has a master’s degree in marriage, family and child therapy from the California Family Study Center in North Hollywood, recently become licensed in her field. An intern also occasionally helps out, and a clinical psychologist, nurse and occupational therapist are available on call.

Referrals come from pediatricians, gynecologists, schools and law enforcement agencies. The fee ranges from free to $65 per hour, depending on a person’s ability to pay. Davies-Tong said some clients are accepted even if they can’t pay. Some patients’ fees are covered by their health insurance.

“Usually, people associate a medical office with the fact that they must be sick,” Schutz said. “Out here, because of the freedom and flow of things, we’ve de-stigmatized things.”

Mary Riemersma, executive director of the San Diego-based, 20,000-member California Assn. of Marriage and Family Therapists, said the environment is an effective therapeutic tool.

“It’s really not that different from the techniques that use art, music or dance therapy,” Riemersma said. “It is useful, just as long as they don’t try to use it with every patient. It might not work with some people. I think of myself. To put me up there in that kind of environment would not work.”

Ray Bakaitis, a clinical psychologist in West Los Angeles, added: “One thing that gives people problems is trying to control things. The environment can teach people to trust more, to trust forces outside themselves, and I think that can be very healing.”

Almost all of the healing is done outdoors. Instead of reclining in a sterile, white-walled office, Davies-Tong and Schutz escort clients on long, leisurely walks.

Besides six horses, the property includes an assortment of cats, dogs and ducks, a pond and a swimming pool.

For children, the ranch becomes summer camp for an hour. They can go swimming, fishing, rowing or horseback riding. They develop close relationships with the animals while therapists dig out nuggets of truth from their troubled pasts.

With one 10-year-old boy, Davies-Tong said, effective therapy could be conducted only while he was so immersed in another activity, such as fishing or horseback riding, that he couldn’t look at her.

“He would always have his back to me in the beginning,” Davies-Tong said. “It was very intimate and overwhelming. Now he can sit right across from me and tell me everything going on inside.”

Julie, 33, of Canyon Country takes her two children, Robin, 10, and Robert, 9, to weekly sessions at the center. (Their names have been changed for this article.) Last year, after 11 years of marriage, Julie and her husband got a divorce.

“The thing that is so wonderful about it is that they don’t even know how much they’re being analyzed,” Julie said of her children.

In a recent session, Schutz explained to Robin and Robert how their favorite pony, Charlie, had risked his life by not properly taking care of himself during December’s downpour. Schutz then asked Robin if she knew anybody like that. Robin didn’t hesitate with her response.

“My dad,” she said. “For a year or two, he didn’t take care of himself.”

Robert added moments later: “I wish Charlie could come over and hang out and make hot chocolate.”

Robert, according to Schutz, substituted Charlie for the unfulfilled expectations of a father who left home. For the most part, Robert, who lives with his mother, has remained quiet about his disappointment.

“If we were in an office and had asked about his dad, Robert would never open up,” Schutz said. “But because his defenses were down and he wasn’t threatened, he opened up a bit.”

Robin has made a lot of progress, according to her mother. Two years ago, as her parents’ marriage began to deteriorate, Robin wasn’t paying attention in school and frequently acted out her anger, especially toward men. On one occasion, the mother said, Robin put cream cheese in the shoes of her mother’s new boyfriend. Now, after six months with Schutz, Robin has learned to better understand her emotions.

“I don’t want her to be angry at her dad,” Julie said. “I don’t want her growing up cranky and angry at men.”

Schutz said she has attempted to show Robin that it’s normal for a person to react negatively after being hurt, using Charlie as a metaphor.

Robin has learned how a horse reacts to things, Schutz said, “like the way Charlie’s ears go back when he’s not treated well, and that lets her understand how she has behaved when she was mad.”

Pat Mattson, 36, of Lancaster reports similar success with her son, Timmy, 10, who is hyperactive and has an attention deficit disorder. His mother said he was completely uncooperative when she took him to a Lancaster counselor.

“He’d never speak to him,” Mattson said. “He’d even hide under the desk. But when I brought him to Dana, he talked right away. He can’t wait to see the animals. They do a lot of therapy on horseback. One session they did in the swimming pool. He’s not feeling like it’s another doctor trying to rip his brain apart.”

Sometimes Schutz meets with Timmy’s mother or sits with the two of them outside in an effort to better understand his family history.

For Gloria (not her real name), 43, of Canyon Country dredging up family history is a nightmare. Three of her four daughters were sexually abused by their father. Her youngest daughter, Annette, was abused from age 7 through 14. Two years ago, Annette attempted suicide and that’s when she finally told her mother about the abuse.

Last summer, Gloria accompanied Annette to the ranch for weekly sessions. Annette fell in love with the horses and liked being there so much that she volunteered to help clean out the buildings. With previous counselors, she had never mentioned the abuses, her mother said. At the center, she opened up about everything.

Both Gloria and Annette decided to prosecute. But when learning that she must submit to a physical exam for a possible rape trial, Annette ran away from home in September with her boyfriend. According to her mother, Annette felt that the exam was another form of rape. Her father later pleaded guilty to one count of molestation and was sentenced to a year in prison.

Gloria hasn’t heard from her daughter since, not even on Christmas. But the mother has continued to see Schutz.

“I blamed myself,” Gloria said, referring to the sexual abuse. “But Dana has helped me by making me realize that there was nothing I could do if I didn’t know.”

Gloria remains optimistic that Annette will return someday “and, when she does, we’ll do much more intense therapy. We’ll probably come here three times a week.”

For Debbie Schwartz, visits to the ranch are over. She and her family recently moved to New York.

Her husband, Jesse, has also benefited from therapy at the ranch. When his wife grew uneasy with his sexual advances, Jesse felt rejected. He worried constantly about her emotional health. So both he and his wife met with Davies-Tong.

“But now I’m more aware of her problems. It’s opened my eyes that she’s not crazy,” he said, “that she needs time to deal with everything.”