Paws for Thought

It's a sad indictment on Australia that despite comprising just 6.6% of the nation's population, Aboriginal youth are 27 times more likely to be in juvenile detention than non-Indigenous young people. 

This over-representation reflects a history of trauma, cultural dispossession, and forced displacement and assimilation that have affected them, their parents, families and communities.

Over successive decades, western models of intervention have failed to nudge that statistic in a more positive direction. 

However, an equine-assisted learning program, designed and operated by Aboriginal people for Aboriginal people in Western Australia's Kimberley region, is delivering some extraordinary results.

Thanks to the healing power of horses and Nyangumarta researcher Professor Juli Coffin, who pioneered the Yawardani Jan-ga program, around 2500 Aboriginal youth are now on a better path.

With more funding and support, Juli believes this Aboriginal-led model could reverse those statistics and transform First Nations communities across the country. 

A new Australian study is shining the spotlight on the healing power of horses, revealing that equine-assisted therapy could help address the growing mental health crisis among children.

As childhood mental illness rates spiral, compounded by lengthy waiting times for counsellors and the limitations of many conventional treatments, some social workers are turning to horses for the answer.

University of South Australia researchers have captured the lived experiences of 10 social workers and mental health practitioners delivering equine-assisted therapy (EET) to children. Their findings have recently been published in the Journal of Social Work Practice.

As we learn from social work researcher Morgyn Stacy in this episode, the evidence in favour of EET is compelling, although some major challenges need to be addressed. These include the lack of regulation, a reluctance among funding bodies such as the NDIS to recognise formal qualifications in this space, and the expenses involved in delivering equine-assisted therapy.

Morgyn's paper, co-authored by her UniSA supervisor Dr Fatin Shabbar, is available here:  Healing in relationships, the power of equine-assisted mental health interventions

A recent study led by Dr Tiffani Howell from La Trobe University confirms what many people in the assistance animal community are reporting anecdotally: increasing rejections from transport companies, hospitality outlets and even medical centres.

An online survey of 77 handlers said these constant access denials made them feel annoyed, anxious, excluded, hurt, distressed, exhausted, discouraged and embarrassed. 

The rejections are concerning and point to a need for more education, clearer legislation and greater penalties, according to Lisa Robinson, Director of Assistance Animals International.

Sydney woman Rachael Fullerton, who lives with multiple disabilities, decided to take on the nation's biggest airline - Qantas - when she was refused permission to fly with her assistance dog, Strike. Rachael recently won that battle after a lengthy legal fight, but many challenges still remain.

In this episode of Paws for Thought, we hear three different perspectives relating to access issues experienced by animal assistance handlers. More details on each speaker can be found at:

Qantas agrees to change assistance dog processes after being sued for disability discrimination - ABC News

Full article: Disruptions in Transportation and Medical Care Experienced by Handlers of Assistance Dogs in Australia

ASSISTANCE ANIMALS INTERNATIONAL - Assistance Animals International

In years past, Dean Mighell spent his days treading the floors of Parliament House in Canberra, lobbying on behalf of thousands of workers for better pay and conditions, in his role as Head of the Electrical Trades Union.

A 25-year career defined by conflict and immense pressure left behind deep psychological scars, as did a spell as an Army Commando in his early 20s.

When Dean stepped down from his role in 2013, he yearned for harmony, peace, and a new direction.

Thanks to a documentary on war veterans, he found it - along with a renewed sense of purpose.

Today Dean is walking a different path - The Path of The Horse, an equine-assisted therapy charity that he founded in 2016. His initial goal was to help veterans and first responders heal from post traumatic stress. Eight years later, he has broadened his services to also support neurodiverse people, troubled youth and victims of domestic violence.

The Path of the Horse is located in Trentham, Victoria. For more information, go to https://www.pathofthehorse.com.au/

17-year-old Summer Farrelly (they/them) is the creator of a unique animal assisted learning program called Chickens 2 Love, developed for autistic and other neurodivergent people to help them develop social skills. 

The program came into being when Summer was just 10 years of age, living in Bundaberg, Queensland and being home schooled due to an education system that did not cater to children who were different.

Fortunately, Summer's flock of 20 chickens proved exceptional teachers. Observing them closely, Summer identified a pattern of interaction and behaviour that could be applied in a human setting.

In the intervening seven years, Summer has earned their 'wings' as an animal behaviourist, inclusion advocate, sought after public speaker, education consultant and now university student - in the second year of a Bachelor Zoology at the University of New England in Armidale.

At the core of their work is a desire to demonstrate how neurodivergent people are shaping the world in a positive way, and why animals play such an important role in that space.

Australian Lions has been training hearing assistance dogs for 43 years, pairing more than 690 dogs with hearing-impaired people over that time.

More recently, they have branched out to train medical alert dogs for people living with type 1 diabetes, a chronic condition that affects more than 120,000 Australians and over 8 million people worldwide.

Laura Harris is a project co-ordinator and trainer with Australian Lions Hearing Dogs, and Eliza Bartlett is an Adelaide nurse and type 1 diabetic, who took delivery of Sal, a miniature labradoodle, 18 months ago.

In this podcast we learn about how the dogs are trained to help people manage their diabetes (a potentially life-threatening condition ),  who is eligible to be paired with a dog, and the extraordinary difference they make to people's lives.

Vanessa (Ness) Hawkins is a self-confessed horse nut, who was riding ponies in England before she could walk.  

Emigrating to Australia as a young child and growing up in rural Victoria, where her British accent made her a target for bullies, Ness found solace in pony club, eventually competing at State Championship level and then overseas.

A desire to care for others led her into nursing, a career she juggled for years while still riding, training and breeding horses.

In 2016, Ness established Euroa Horse Park in north east Victoria, a multipurpose facility that offers farm tours, carriage rides, camping, stallions at stud, horses for sale and animal-assisted services. 

Her focus is on helping people with disabilities and special needs, and she does this by holding regular clinics and seminars, educating people about the value of animals as a therapeutic tool.

In this episode of Paws for Thought, Ness explains how horses have given her conviction, a direction and a sense of purpose in her life’s journey. 

For more information about Euroa Horse Park, visit https://welcometoeuroahorsepark.blogspot.com/

Like many new teaching graduates, Sarah Macdonald started her career full of promise and hope for the potential impact she could have on a child’s life. But she soon realised that a great curriculum and a supportive environment were not enough. Children who weren’t in the right headspace and who were battling mental health issues - anxiety, depression and stress - were not open to learning. After a break from teaching and a spell as a dog trainer, Sarah realised that the two were not incompatible. Using dogs as a metaphor for learning has morphed into a satisfying new career. In today's podcast, Sarah tracks the journey of Canine Comprehension over the past decade.

If not for the Dunalley bushfires in 2013, Tasmanian teacher Cheri Allanby may still be delivering lessons to her students in the same way that millions have done before her - standing in a classroom, whiteboard behind her, explaining simple concepts to children and hoping that the sea of young faces before her are taking it all in. 

Fast forward 10 years and that classroom has moved outdoors and includes a new teaching aid – horses.

Her students are neurodiverse, experience learning difficulties, and struggle with conventional approaches to education.

But the combination of nature, a new approach to learning, and a majestic teaching aid in the form of a horse, has delivered life changing results for many children – and their parents.

In this episode of Paws for Thought, we talk to Cheri and one very happy parent - Liz Clements - who has finally found a form of animal-assisted learning that is working wonders for her two neurodiverse boys.

For more information about True Trails, visit www.truetrails.com.au

Note: While the term "animal assisted therapy" is heard in the interview, this podcast is strictly related to "equine assisted learning", which does not involve a health professional.