SANDPOINT — Giving foster kids the opportunity to get out into nature and learn the art of fly fishing is a powerful therapeutic tool, allowing the youngsters to leave behind some of the stress while also building their confidence and self-esteem.

“It is such a peaceful, relaxing sport,” said Kaitlin Barnhart, a Sandpoint native who co-founded the Mayfly Project in 2016.

Barnhart started the Mayfly Project with a friend of hers, Jess Westbrook. While the nonprofit started as a joint effort between the two — Barnhart in North Idaho and Westbrook in Arkansas — has since expanded to 24 states. Barnhart said they have 37 projects across the country this summer, and by 2020 will have served 500 kids in foster care.

The Mayfly Project is a program where foster children are mentored through five sessions, or “stages” representing the life cycle of a Mayfly. During these sessions, the kids learn about casting, how to put the rods together, tie knots, conservation efforts and more. The intention, Barnhart said, is that by the end of the sessions the youngsters will be self-sufficient in fly fishing.

While every project is done as a group between the mentors and foster kids, it is a 1-1 ratio, so every child has their own mentor.

“The kids absolutely love having their own mentor, because it is that attention they don’t get often in foster care that they get with their mentor — and it’s the best way for them to catch fish is to have their own mentor,” Barnhart said

With a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Pacific Lutheran University, Barnhart’s background in mental health led her to becoming a co-founder of the Mayfly Project. During her time at college, she said, she was working with foster kids, transporting them to meet with their parents during supervised visits.

“I realized during that time that it was a really difficult time for them,” she said, adding that the kids were leaving their parents to go back to a stranger’s house and, for some, their parents didn’t show up for the visit. “So it is an emotional time of transition.”

To help the kids through that transition, Barnhart said if she could find some water along the way, she would stop and let the kids throw rocks. This would calm them down, she said, giving them a chance to take a break so they wouldn’t return to the foster home upset.

Then after college, Barnhart worked sport fishing lodge in Alaska where she learned about fly fishing, so she began to use it to manage her own mental health, learning to slow down and relax.

“It helps mental health, it helps physical health, and it just takes you on these adventures that you otherwise wouldn’t have,” she said.

Barnhart ultimately began working with foster kids as a career in residential treatment, and about 10 years ago started taking the youngsters fly fishing on her days off. It was a time for the kids to “be able to be kids” rather than just being a kid in foster care. She met Westbrook through Facebook as he was starting up the project in Arkansas and, after a few months of talking about the projects they were both doing, decided to team up and turn it into a national program.

Barnhart graduated from Sandpoint High School in 1999 and moved back to North Idaho about three years ago. She now lives in Athol and aims to expand the Mayfly Project in Sandpoint. North Idaho is unique, she said, because of how much public land is accessible. It can be a special place for the kids once they learn about all the places they can go and be outdoors, which is one reason why Barnhart said she loves Sandpoint.

The North Idaho mentors have worked with kids from Kinderhaven in Sandpoint, the Children’s Village in Coeur d’Alene, as well as some local adoptive families. In the summer of 2017, for example, Barnhart said they partnered with Idaho Fish and Game for a one-day event at the Water Life Discovery Center with eight kids from Kinderhaven, teaching them about fly fishing and conservation efforts in the Sandpoint area. Last summer, they took seven of the kids to Sandpoint City Beach for a day of fishing as well.

Throughout the summer, she said, local mentors and foster kids typically get together every two weeks. During that time, they head out on boats for bass fishing, including to North Fork of the Coeur d’Alene River to fish for cutthroat, or simply to ponds to catch some sunfish.

“Our goal is for them to just have as much fun as possible, because we know that life in foster care is such a stressful time,” she said. “We try our hardest to get them out, get them away from their problems and have as much fun as possible with them. Sometimes that means getting ice cream or teaching them how to skip a rock.”

Beyond working to introduce foster children to the great outdoors, Barnhart said the Mayfly Project aims to raise awareness of children in foster care by producing fishing videos of children up for adoption. So far in Arkansas, the project has helped three children be adopted, and they are shooting videos in Colorado and Idaho this year, she said.

Barnhart said she looking to build the Sandpoint team of volunteer mentors as she works toward her goal of separate projects for Sandpoint, Coeur d’Alene and Spokane. Every mentor goes through an interview and background check, and Barnhart said they work with caseworkers to ensure the safest program possible for the kids.

“It has been really amazing to meet people across the country who really value taking care of foster kids — that is one of our priorities for sure,” she said.

Barnhart said the Mayfly Project is accepting donations as well, or any companies that would be willing to sponsor a foster child to participate in the local project.

For information, to donate or sign up to become a mentor, visit themayflyproject.com or email [email protected].

Mary Malone can be reached by email at [email protected] and follow her on Twitter @MaryDailyBee.