Nonprofits serving people with disabilities merge business operations

SARASOTA — After partnering for more than a year, Easterseals Happiness House and InStride Therapy have formally merged all business operations.

The unification will expand Easterseals’ already-diverse inventory of therapies and strengthen offerings in south Sarasota County for individuals with disabilities and their families, according to a press release. 

Easterseals began managing business operations at InStride in 2019. The merger completely marries business details of the two enterprises.

“We are proud of the work that our organizations have accomplished and look forward to celebrating even stronger success as the two become one,” says President and CEO Tom Waters in the statement. “This will allow us to deliver an exceptional full range of services for our clients and their families, now with the powerful tools only the horses can provide.”

The merger expands traditional Easterseals’ therapies, which include occupational, physical, speech and behavioral, to now fully include hippotherapy, which aids physical needs, and equine-assisted therapy, which assists clients with mental health, emotional and behavioral needs, including those associated with autism.

InStride Therapy will maintain its brand identity and website, now anchored under the 74-year-old Easterseals umbrella of services, as well as its 25-year legacy of offering equine therapy at one of the premier equestrian facilities in the Southeast U.S., the release says. 

Easterseals Happiness House provides therapies and services for individuals with disabilities and their families. The agency began serving the Southwest Florida region in 1946.