The Windhorse Guild was founded in 2001 as a non-profit 501(c)3 organization in Boulder, Colorado. Our mission is to develop employment opportunities for people recovering from mental health challenges and to provide education in the field of mental health care. The Guild’s current programs include the social enterprise Mindful Works and the educational archive Windhorse Legacy Project.
Transitional Employment to Support Recovery
Mindful Works is a mission-driven social enterprise affiliated with Windhorse Community Services and overseen by The Windhorse Guild, Inc. The work of this enterprise furthers the Windhorse Guild’s mission by providing transitional employment to people in recovery from mental health challenges, which has been proven to be a critical component in reestablishing independent living and well-being. Our team designs and produces high-quality, handcrafted wellness, meditation, and home decor products. The mission of Mindful Works is to improve the lives of our apprentices by impacting their pursuit of employment in the community, thereby not only helping each apprentice but also the community as a whole, which benefits from the hard work and dedication to employment that each of our apprentices shows.
Resources for the Evolution of the Interpersonal Healing Arts
The Windhorse Legacy Project began with the first Windhorse therapeutic community in 1981 in Boulder, Colorado, reflecting the original inspiration to join scholarship with clinical service grounded in contemplative discipline. Guided by this vision, Windhorse has grown into an international network of therapeutic centers that practice whole-person care for recovery from extreme mental states. The Legacy Project preserves, publishes, and teaches the essential knowledge from our forty years of clinical experience and research. We serve the Windhorse centers and all persons and organizations in the field of mental-health care. Our library also hosts the life’s work of Edward Podvoll, MD, the visionary co-founder of Windhorse, other master Windhorse practitioners and like-minded luminaries. Whether you are looking for learning resources, healing wisdom, or clarity through a personal transition, may you find it here.
History of The Windhorse Guild:
A Resource for Training, Education, and Employment
Windhorse Guild, Inc, a nonprofit, was established in 2000 in response to the urgings of a young woman, a client of the local Windhorse treatment center for mental health. In a letter to her team, she wrote:
Now I am experiencing this beautiful idea of recovery. Yet, something is missing. How would I ever get from being a Windhorse client to an active member in society with a job?
Her vision was to create a nonprofit component to Windhorse—the Windhorse Guild—which would offer a transitional work program for the clients that felt like her. They were feeling better, but how could they make this leap back into the world?
A working team formed and purchased a truck to launch a curbside recycling business run by these individuals seeking a role in the workforce. A fundraiser was held, and the Windhorse Guild was established.
The recycling business was later eclipsed by a larger company, but the spirit of an affirmative business that provided transitional job training evolved over time to what is now Mindful Works.
In 2002, the Windhorse Legacy Project was established as a mental health educational program under the Guild, which is the environment in which the goodness of related mission-driven initiatives can be cultivated.
The Guild and its two current projects—Mindful Works and the Legacy Project—continue to grow through its business and program income, as well as donations from private individuals and foundations.
“‘Windhorse’ refers to a mythic horse, famous throughout central Asia, who rides in the sky and is the symbol of a person’s energy and discipline to uplift oneself. Windhorse is literally an energy in the body and mind, which can be aroused in the service of healing an illness or overcoming depression.”
