Hi, Friends!
My name is Pamela Wheeler and I am an independently licensed therapist working at UBU Therapy Farms in Lincoln, NE. I hold additional certifications in animal assisted therapy from the Institute for Human-Animal Connection at the University of Denver. Please email with any questions you might have about our farm!
Welcome to the Farm Amy and Jewel!
Amy Van Gerpen is a recent graduate of Divine Mercy University where she earned an M.S. in Clinical Mental Health Counseling. She holds an additional M.S. in Psychology with a specialization in Child and Adolescent Development from Capella University, and a B.A. in Psychology from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Her professional career journey has always included working with children and animals in some capacity, which are her two biggest loves. Most recently, Amy was blessed to spend the past year as a counseling intern at Cedars Youth Services, where she learned a great deal about trauma, and had the opportunity to work both individually and in group settings, serving both youth and adult clients. Amy’s personal interests include dogs, gardening, music, art, crocheting, reading and learning, animal rescue, and spending lots of time with her husband, children, and all of her pets. Her approach to counseling is holistic and person-centered, where she believes that all people are unique individuals, and are the experts of their own lives; she considers herself incredibly honored to be allowed to walk beside and support them along their journey to growth and healing. Amy is particularly passionate about working with children and teens, and strongly believes that children of all ages express themselves and grow naturally through play and creativity, she therefore often employs various play therapy techniques and art/creative measures throughout the therapeutic process. Amy is also a strong believer in nature’s ability to facilitate and promote health and healing, and is particularly moved by the human-animal connection. She will therefore be excited to include her best friend Basset Hound dog Jewel as her co-therapist at the farm!
Summer Camp on the Farm!
Summer Camp on the Farm!
Summer Camp on the Farm!
UBU Therapy farms, offering counseling services in Lincoln, Ne is offering day summer camp for youth ages 6-18 to engage their senses, mind and body. We are just finishing up with our first camp and are currently evaluating interest in another camp before school starts. This camp provides opportunities for your child to meet new friends
UBU Therapy farms, offering counseling services in Lincoln, Ne is offering day summer camp for youth ages 6-18 to engage their senses, mind and body. We are just finishing up with our first camp and are currently evaluating interest in another camp before school starts. This camp provides opportunities for your child to meet new friends and adorable farms animals. They will also create fun art projects, learn mindfulness skills, engage in movement-based activities such as yoga and dance, develop valuable life skills, and more!
Accessible For All
Summer Camp on the Farm!
Summer Camp on the Farm!
UBU Therapy Farms is an inclusive care farm that was specially designed to meet the needs of individuals with a variety of disabilities. The farm has fully wheelchair accessible pathways, trails, barns and stables. We strive to create a safe, supportive, and inclusive space that promotes wellness for all people and diminishes barriers created by mental health stigmas.
Our Treatment Focus
Summer Camp on the Farm!
Our Treatment Focus
Animal Assisted Therapy can be unforgettable, positive and life changing experience presented in a thoughtfully created and fully accessible setting. Animal Assisted Therapies, coupled with other therapeutic models such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy or Dialectical Behavioral Therapy can help clients build greater resilience, confidence,
Animal Assisted Therapy can be unforgettable, positive and life changing experience presented in a thoughtfully created and fully accessible setting. Animal Assisted Therapies, coupled with other therapeutic models such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy or Dialectical Behavioral Therapy can help clients build greater resilience, confidence, and independence. Clients will practice mindfulness, learn distress tolerance, improve interpersonal relationships and emotion regulation alongside our animal friends and growing gardens.
With these skills, clients will be more able to cope with whatever life challenges lay ahead. As a part of reaching therapy goals, clients will have an opportunity to engage in farming or horticultural activities including agricultural work, tending animals, garden work, and more. It is an incredibly rewarding way to reconnect with the earth, animals, nature and themselves.
UBU News
New Clients and Group Visits Welcomed
New Clients and Group Visits Welcomed
New Clients and Group Visits Welcomed
UBU Therapy Farms in Lincoln, Ne is currently accepting new clients (ages 21 or younger) and group visits. Group visits can include meeting our farm animals, skills building or yoga. Contact Pamela Wheeler at 402-833-8160 for more information.
Our Gardens
New Clients and Group Visits Welcomed
New Clients and Group Visits Welcomed
The gardens are getting so full and starting to give us zucchinis, cucumbers and peppers. We are hoping to see some ripe tomatoes in the next week or so!
Our Animal Friends
New Clients and Group Visits Welcomed
Our Animal Friends
We have a new addition to the farm! Please welcome our mini Highland Calf, Coco! Patrick (on the right) is so happy to have a new friend to play with in the yard and to cuddle with in their stall.
Our Therapy
Animal Assisted Therapies
UBU Therapy Farms offers clinical and therapeutic services and programs for children, teens and young adults with unique needs in a safe, inclusive space. As licensed mental health therapists, we can help people who are coping with anxiety, depression, social difficulties, emotional problems, grief, trauma and negative self-esteem. We support those with autism, ADHD, and developmental disabilities. We are proud to support transgender, gender-expansive and non-binary people in our community.
Care farming is the therapeutic use of farming practices for the purpose of providing a natural and positive teaching environment for the development of social skills, life skills, job skills. Care Farms provide supervised programs of farm related activities that include animal husbandry and cultivating plants.
The benefits of caring for animals can go beyond the human-animal bond by providing opportunities for meaningful occupations, mastery of tasks, leisure, relaxation and social growth.
Horticultural Therapies
A therapeutic garden is a plant-dominated environment purposefully designed to facilitate interaction with the healing elements of nature. Interactions can be passive or active depending on the garden design and users’ needs.
Horticultural therapy is rooted in the idea that interacting with plants can bring about well-being, whether it’s tending a garden or just having plants in your home.
Many studies have found that just being in nature – such as taking a walk through a garden, a park, a forest – can improve not only your state of mind but your blood pressure, your heart rate and your stress hormone levels and, over time, can lead to a longer life.
CBT and DBT Therapies
Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is a form of psychotherapy that focuses on modifying dysfunctional emotions, behaviors, and thoughts by interrogating and uprooting negative or irrational beliefs. Considered a "solutions-oriented" form of talk therapy, CBT rests on the idea that thoughts and perceptions influence behavior.
Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) is a type of CBT. Its main goals are to teach people how to live in the moment, develop healthy ways to cope with stress, regulate their emotions, and improve their relationships with others.
About Us
Why UBU?
We chose the name UBU because it recognizes the importance of having respect for other people regardless of color, race, sexual orientation, gender identity, disabilities, mental illness, and age. It serves as a reminder to care about others and to be kind whether you are talking to a clerk at the grocery store or a doctor in a hospital, and it encourages us to make a positive difference wherever we can.
The name UBU can also remind us that we are all connected and helps us realize that in many ways, our ability to get along with other people determines the kind of journey we have through life. With therapy, including mindfulness and learning new coping skills, this journey can be one filled with joy, happiness, and contentment. Working in a farm-based setting can help people reconnect to the earth, nature and animals is an incredibly rewarding way.
“While our setting is anything but conventional, the first of its kind in Nebraska, our programs and services are grounded in evidence and expertise. Our hope is that each person who steps foot on our farm will feel welcomed and comforted by our passion to support them and that they experience the sense of calm, comfort and safety that our animals can provide. Developing a bond with an animal can help children, teens and young adults develop a better sense of self-worth and trust, stabilize their emotions, and improve their communication, self-regulation, and socialization skills.”