Keynote presenter #1

Dr Caroline De Vries – Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist and the founding director of The Base Health & Community.

Caroline will explore the importance and challenges of building community in our professional practice.

Keynote presenter #2

Mel Ashford – Grad. Dip In Gestalt Psychotherapy, Counsellor and Master of Counselling student (current)  

As an Equine Assisted Counsellor with lived experience of mental health challenges, Mel will share with us how issues such as stigma and societal limitations have influenced her journey and continues to shape her inspiring mission to address gaps in care.

Judy Brightman

Personal and professional development coach, Mentor to Equine Assisted Services Practitioners and season professional in the Equine Assisted Practices space.

Judy’s highly anticipated experiential session “Somatic Shaping & Somatic Connection – Enhancing our Embodied Presence as a Practitioner” will explore some somatic postures, practices and somatic shapes to give practitioners insight and awareness of their somatic presence and offer practitioners’ growth and development, with many of the tools also being useful in equine assisted learning, coaching and leadership development.

Sinya Nicol

Social Worker + Educator

Sinya is the founder of Ngara Bush & Life Learning, and she brings together her expertise in Educational Science, Pedagogy and Social Work with a dedicated focus on equine-assisted interventions. Sinya will be sharing with us a presentation on The Horse Boy Method’s Approach to Nervous System Regulation

Lee Marshall and Tracey Johnson

Lee Marshall – Social Worker and Counsellor, with over two decades of crisis intervention expertise in Child Protection and Family Counselling.

Tracey Johnson has over 20 years experience as a counsellor offering animal assisted therapy and is also a Registered Counsellor and Supervisor with ACA

Lee and Tracey will share about the RESTORE program they facilitate for the charity Broken to Brilliant (www.brokentobrilliant.org), and how this empowers survivors of domestic and family violence to heal and thrive.

Panel discussion – Equine Affirming Practice Across domains

Kim Daley – Kim Daley Horsemanship

Diana Waters – Equine Coash, ACA approved Counsellor and Equine Assisted Psychotherapist

Kylie Peters – Registered Psychologist, Family Therapist and Founder of Groundwork Therapy 

Panel discussion – How is Equine Assisted practice unique in the Australian context?

Jane Faulkner – Jane is the founder of Equine Assisted Therapy Australia, she is a psychotherapist with a Masters of Gestalt Therapy and is also a Somatic Experiencing practitioner. 

Judy Brightman – Personal and professional development coach, Mentor to Equine Assisted Services Practitioners and season professional in the EA Practices space.

Professor Juli Coffin – Professor Coffin is a proud Aboriginal woman, Registered psychologist and prominent Aboriginal researcher.

 Jezey Wolf   – Bachelor of Communication, a Master of Marketing, a Graduate Diploma in Counselling, a Master of Counselling and Psychotherapy, is ACA registered (Level 2) and is an equine Assisted psychotherapy practitioner.

Bridging Science and Spirit: Can they Cohabitate in the Therapeutic Relationship? In an era where clients increasingly seek or are curious to explore holistic approaches to healing, health and wellness, therapists are called to explore the synergy between modern therapeutic, evidence-based modalities and spiritual wisdom.

Camillia Mowbray  – Master in Psychotherapy and Counselling, B Psychological sciences, ACA and PACFA Member and  equine assisted mental health practitioner.

Leaping the gap – how we can all play a role in driving EAT research. This presentation will explore the current state of EAT research, the question of how we make sense of published studies’ results and conclusions and identify actionable strategies for integrating practice-based evidence, fostering collaborations and engaging with future studies.

Fay McCormack  – MA, BA, EAGALA Certified Equine Specialist and Mental Health Specialist, ACA Member Level 4.

“Horses Hearts are Full of Love” – This presentation will discuss the client outcomes of the HAY (Horses Assisting You) program at Nexus Primary Health, a Community Health Centre in Victoria.

Michelle Coulcher – Proud Neurodivergent Gadigal woman and ACA Registered Counsellor and Supervisor

Being me! My Authentic self, to engage the “you”!

Michelle’s presentation explores how bringing our authentic selves to equine-assisted services creates deeper connections and stronger outcomes. Drawing from personal experience as a Neurodivergent practitioner, Michelle will explore how horses naturally teach us about communication, relationships, and personal growth.

Sara Beresford – Terry is an Accredited Mental Health Social Worker and Clinical Supervisor, with over 40yrs experience.

Sara will offer a session called ‘Rhythm & Flow’: an experiential self-care workshop, offering nurture, connection and enlivenment for therapists. 

Kylie Peters – Psychologist, family therapist, director of Groundwork Therapy) has been facilitating equine therapy and learning workshops as a teacher, supervisor and practitioner across Australia for the past 20 years. Groundwork Therapy is built on Barbara Rectors Invitational approach framework where horses are profound and powerful co-teachers of this work.

Kylie’s presentation, The Equine Invitation – Is ‘safe enough’, enough?, will guide us through a concept map developed by Groundwork Therapy as a proposed tool kit to help practitioners become more aware of their practice underpinnings and frameworks to best support reflective practice.

Pete Lowe – Peta is a social worker with over 20 years’ experience. International Consultant and the co-founder of Pegasus Connections and Hooves for Healing.

Bridging Resilience: The Warrior Connection in Equine-Assisted Supports for Veterans, experiences from Australia and Ukraine. Peta will share insight into how the historical connections between soldiers and horses inform modern therapeutic approaches in veteran support programs, how historical narratives and the unique qualities of horses can foster emotional healing, trust, and reintegration for veterans and how horses’ natural instincts help veterans navigate the challenges of reintegration, fostering self-regulation, trust-building, and adaptability in their post-service lives.

Alice Field –  Senior Facilitator & Assistant APAC Instructor, EAL Practitioner with Leading Edge Professional Development

Alice will share her expertise in offering EAL within the corporate sector, discussing how they have navigated corporate group expectations, measured outcomes, and reported changes resulting from the sessions. 

Sue Lamond – Counsellor, Psychotherapist and Clinical Supervisor

Sue is a highly respected Supervisor, Trainer and group facilitator, in the Equine Assisted Services sector, and Sue will guide the group through an experiential integration session as part of our Conference Closure.