Animal Therapies Ltd Podcast

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 po...

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, cl...

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. Obs...

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 diabeti...

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 incompat...

Karen Hollings is a highly experienced paramedic who has been employed by St John Ambulance in Western Australia since 2003. She loves her job and has been awarded several commendations over the course of her career, but it has also come at a high cost. Like so many other first responders, she is confronted with trauma on a daily basis. She sees people at their best, their worst, and when they are vulnerable. In 2014, a vicious assault by a drug and alcohol-affected patient left Kare...

Not many people can put their hand on their heart and say their job makes their heart sing. Vicki Macdermid counts herself among the lucky few. The executive business coach and chartered accountant has established a model for leadership that accesses the power and wisdom of horses. Her workshops are a little different to the leadership courses that most CEOs sign up for. "When I see senior business people leaving judgement at the door and allowing an animal that has roamed the...

Seventy per cent of veterinarians know at least one colleague who has taken their own life and almost the same number are experiencing mental health issues within their practice. Long hours, low pay, high stress, unrealistic client expectations, financial pressures and a lack of mentoring and support for young veterinary graduates have created a crisis for the industry, with many vets leaving the profession. Veterinary pharmaceutical company Elanco has partnered with Animal Thera...

With a sense of smell up to 100,000 times more powerful than a human’s, it’s perhaps no surprise that dogs can reliably detect hundreds of different scents, including COVID-19. But as Dr Anne-Lise Chaber explains, their potential as an effective screening tool goes way beyond the pandemic - into the realm of cancer, tuberculosis, influenza and other diseases.

Dr Lorin Lindner is a clinical psychologist based in the Californian mountains above Los Angeles. She operates two very special sanctuaries that pair traumatised wildlife with returned US military veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress. Her recovery program places rescued parrots, wolves and wolf dogs, raccoons and coyotes in a sanctuary, where they are cared for by veterans undergoing rehabilitation from their own traumatic experiences in war.

Childhood literacy rates in Australia are among the worst in the developed world, with one in five children failing to meet international standards. The Federal Government is pouring millions of dollars into addressing the literacy crisis, but is there a simpler solution staring us in the face – while also begging us for a walk in the park? As thousands of school children are discovering, reading to a dog can be a real page turner.

One in three women experiencing domestic violence don't leave - or delay leaving - because of their pets. But services are now available in Australia to provide safe havens for both. The law is also catching up, with recent legislation in NSW and Victoria recognising animal abuse as a form of family violence . These steps, and Amber's inspiring story, provide hope to thousands of women and their pets currently caught in a living hell.

Mental health social worker Zel Tomasevic explains why she stepped away from her office four years ago and now spends her days in a paddock, getting her clients to work alongside horses - with much better results.