Equine therapy is now available in Cape York

In 2022 Ms Jackson was named the RFDS Queensland Hero after saving her friends life on a remote cattle station in 2021.

Emma then used that prize money to join up with RFDS mental health nurse Jos Middleton to help locals get the best from themselves with some equine therapy.

Areas covered include mindfulness, managing challenges and the calm state.

Emma is a certified Equine Assisted Learning Practitioner and began incorporating horses into learning programs a few years ago near Archer River through her business, Swift FNQ.

"With a horse you can really help somebody understand and see how their thoughts stops them from being them and how their thoughts change their behaviours," Ms Jackson said.

"They think they are doing something in a particular way and it's great to demonstrate with the horses that they aren't.

"The horses show them what they really are doing and how they are thinking and how their thoughts are stopping them."

Emma and Jos work with attendees by inviting them into scenarios which shows how they see themselves, and what point fear and discomfort kicks in.

"We address their fears and discomfort and challenges and conflict," Ms Jackson said.

"We give them tools where they can have a conversation that doesn't result in an uncomfortable conflict.

"As humans we are not taught how to handle challenging situations, we are taught academia and we are taught social skills, but we are never taught what to do in a really awkward conversation."

As well as being a qualified equine practitioner Ms Jackson also has a psychology degree and is a qualified teacher, while Ms Middleton is a mental health nurse with the Royal Flying Doctor Service and brings more than 25 years of experience in mental health, including seven years of specialisation in Cape York.

Ms Jackson is also the founder of Conquer the Corrugations - an initiative which aims to raise awareness for mental health and suicide prevention in the region.

While she has been running equine therapy courses over the past few years for communities on the cape, she has now officially teamed up with RFDS to offer the weekends on a more regular basis.

"I've worked with the Western Cape college and the Napranum Shire Council, and Rio Tinto working with teenage girls around Napranum," Ms Jackson said.

"I saw an opportunity to work with RFDS, as I see this as a preventative."

"The equine therapy is not about addressing mental health challenges, it's about how to build resilience so that when life gets tough you have some strategies to help you work through it.

"It's free and the RFDS board have approved funding for the next 2 years."

All activities in the program are conducted on the ground, requiring no prior experience with horses or riding and is open to all ages.

For more information and bookings, please visit www.swiftfnq.com/horse-wisdom.

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