When Colin Emonson set out to help Black Saturday bushfire victims recover, he drove to the regional Victorian disaster zone with a float full of horses.
Mr Emonson is the founder of a unique therapeutic model that combines narrative therapy and horse handling.
He supported survivors at Kinglake who were experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder, and returned to hold therapy sessions over a number of years.
Under the Horses for Hope model, participants work with horses that have had "trauma and trouble" in their lives, including from the racing industry.
Participants learn to regulate their emotions and become a carer for the animals, supported by horse handlers and counsellors.
"It flips the therapeutic process on its head, really," Mr Emonson said.
Now the same program is proving crucial to northern Victorian communities after the October 2022 floods.
"The first session that we had after we reopened after the floods was a young woman who came along and she'd lost everything," Mr Emonson said.
Racing to offer support
The program, which is based in Mooroopna North, has doubled in capacity over the past couple of years.
But Caz Pringle-Bowden, in charge of program development and partnerships at the charity, said the waiting list kept growing.
Demand intensified after the floods.
"We're getting new referrals every day," she said.
Those people seeking treatment can sit on the waiting list for up to six months.
"And we believe it's our responsibility to our community to make this more available," Ms Pringle-Bowden said.
Now the race is on to secure the necessary finances.
It costs a minimum of $500,000 annually to run the program, with Horses for Hope subsidising every session to keep the service accessible.
Ms Pringle-Bowden said the program relied heavily on donations, community support, and philanthropic investment.
Expanding means building a second round yard and training and recruiting more staff, with the aim of increasing capacity from 20 to 40 sessions per week.
"It's a critical period of time that we are responding to by expanding the program," Ms Pringle-Bowden said.
"We don't like keeping people waiting, that can be a really challenging and heartbreaking process for someone who has had the courage to step out and say 'Yes, I'm going to try to help myself.'"
Horses for Hope offers support to people dealing with a range of issues, including people with disabilities and family violence survivors.
'It helps you move forward'
Before she tried equine-assisted narrative therapy, 15-year-old Jade Bradley stopped going to school for a year as she struggled with her mental health.
Karen Stephens said she was "desperate" to find a counselling service that would suit her then 14-year-old daughter.
But Jade wasn't interested in sharing with her mum, or sitting in a psychologist's office to talk about her feelings.
"A year or so ago she wouldn't have been able to tell me anything," Ms Stephens said.
Then they were referred to Horses for Hope.
"I didn't really want to try anything new, and then I just bit the bullet," Jade said.
"From then on I just loved it."
The sessions are about more than patting pretty ponies, and each appointment includes a sit-down conversation with a counsellor to work through the participant's achievements and challenges.
"Getting in the horse yard is about emotional regulation," Mr Emonson said.
"To manage yourself in a way that the horse feels safe, and then to be able to have a connection with the horse.
"It's reciprocity … they don't only come here to receive, they come here to give, and they give to the horse.
"They become realistically and genuinely a carer and a healer for the horse in those moments, and they're usually on the other end of it."
Jade's work with horse Queenie, and the team delivering the program, helped her get back on her feet.
She started going to school again, and grew closer to her family.
"We're able to be mother and daughter again," Ms Stephens said.
"She still has her good days and her bad days, like anyone … but she's completely grown.
"I think this was a lifesaver for her and me. I've got my girl back … the person who she used to be."
Learning to look after another life taught Jade how to manage her own wellbeing during hard times.
"You're not just stuck in a situation that you're always stuck in," she said.
"It helps you move forward."
