Mental Mountains Project Inc

2025 challenged me to think beyond myself as the founder of Mental Mountains. This year is about pushing past those limits as we take take the same steps towards believing in our mission that we are hoping to inspire in our supporters daily! Through our partners, we're able to support one person's mental health needs for an average of $5,000 annually. That means every dollar provides someone with another minute of comfort. As we diversify our partners and reach, we hope to stretch our distributions even further as this year our goal of $50,000 which would double our support for those in in need of funds. Please follow along @keithbatenhorst on instagram as we start our season on the most iconic bike climb in the world on Mauna Kea as we aim to cycle up 13,803 ft and summit mountains in an entirely new space. In spring, we'll shift our focus to the Victoria, BC Ironman 70.3 as we gear up for the Lake Placid, NY Ironman 140.6 in July! We'll close out the season the season with two MMP athletes taking on back to back marathons at the Mont Tremblant 80K Relay and ending the season with a 50K trail run through the iconic Mourne Mountains in Northern Ireland - taking on over 11,000 ft of vertical gain to end the year!

Donations through MMP to Natural Wisdom Counseling LLC (NWC) support the overall well-being of therapy horses, and help make equine-facilitated psychotherapy services affordable to the community. Help MMP meet our mission to provide access to therapy services by supporting NWC! If you want your donation to go to a specific use, please say so (i.e. horse sponsorship , client services, wish list items , etc.). NWC is currently looking for support to add new horses to their therapy team -- donations to purchase horses and supplies are appreciated, and horse sponsors are welcome! MMP currently sponsors Pogo, one of the NWC therapy horses, because we see how the work at NWC meets unique needs in our community. For example, Jess speaks Spanish and is fluent in American Sign Language. Jess also provides a wide range of services, and accepts several insurance company payers. However -- in one year it takes 23 Medicaid-reimbursed sessions just to pay for Pogo's special horseshoes to keep him comfortable and happy. Equine therapists get the same reimbursement rates as standard counselors, even though their overhead expenses are so much higher. That's why many equine therapy providers don't accept insurance payments and can charge over $400/hour for their time. Help us support NWC so these high quality services can continue to be available to people of all income brackets!