All About Animals Animal-Assisted Therapy

20/05/2026

Looking for a heartwarming movie recommendation?

Remarkably Bright Creatures on Netflix is a beautiful story about friendship, healing, grief, and unexpected connection.

With unforgettable characters — including a remarkably intelligent octopus — this film reminds us how powerful companionship can be in helping us through life’s challenges.

A gentle, uplifting watch that will leave you smiling (and maybe reaching for the tissues).

20/05/2026

Looking for an animal-assisted service provider? ATL proudly hosts Australia’s largest directory of animal-assisted practitioners, helping individuals, families, organisations, schools, allied health professionals, and communities connect with qualified and ethical providers across the country.

Whether you’re searching for support in:
🐴 Equine-assisted services
🐶 Animal-assisted therapy
🧠 Mental health & wellbeing
🌱 Personal development
🎓 Learning support
♿ Disability support
❤️ Trauma-informed services

…our National Directory makes it easy to find a practitioner that suits your needs.

All ATL Professional Members agree to uphold our:
✔ Code of Ethics
✔ Code of Conduct
✔ Professional Membership standards

Search the ATL National Directory today:
https://animaltherapies.org.au/providers/

Together, we are strengthening trust, professionalism, and best practice in animal-assisted services across Australia.

20/05/2026

The ATL National Directory Listing Guidelines are here to help Professional Members accurately represent their qualifications, experience, and areas of expertise when providing animal-assisted services.

These guidelines support:
✔ Ethical and professional practice
✔ Clear and accurate service listings
✔ Better outcomes for participants and referring agencies
✔ Safe, qualified, and evidence-informed animal-assisted support

Whether you work in:
🐾 Mental Health Support
🐾 Neurodiversity
🐾 Physical Disability
🐾 Veterans & First Responders
🐾 Skills Building & Personal Development
🐾 Assistance Animal Training & Assessment

…it’s important that your listing reflects your training, human qualifications, and experience working alongside animals.

The guidelines also outline:
✅ Membership requirements
✅ Professional development expectations
✅ Recommended qualifications by service category
✅ NDIS disability criteria references
✅ Best practice standards for animal-assisted practitioners

Together, we can strengthen professionalism, transparency, and trust across the animal-assisted services sector.

Read the ATL National Directory Listing Guidelines today and ensure your listing is current and aligned with best practice standards.

20/05/2026

A snapshot of 50 recent funding applications to Animal Therapies Ltd shows the most common reasons for people needing animal-assisted support are mental health conditions, trauma and abuse recovery, anxiety, depression, PTSD, complex trauma, neurodiversity, financial hardship, and family violence recovery.

Applications were for children, young people, adults, parents and carers — with strong representation from children aged 5–12 and adults aged 35–55.

Animal-assisted and nature-based therapies can play a powerful role in helping people feel safe, connected and supported on their recovery journey.

02/05/2026

Beautiful visit with friends to finish a busy week at my own little farm sanctuary

02/05/2026

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02/05/2026

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1JdSQqomWS/?mibextid=wwXIfr

Guess what day it is? It's day one!

Today Disabled people and our supporters begin twelve days of action to protect our NDIS.

We are kicking off the campaign by sharing our powerful, personal stories with political decision-makers. We are going to let them know what the NDIS means for us and how devastating cuts will be to our lives.

To start, head to the DPAC Australia website and click on Get Involved, then Day One. You'll find a guide to sharing your story as well as three options for taking action. https://www.dpacaustralia.net/get-involved

Day One is here ---->https://www.dpacaustralia.net/get-involved/day-1

Every single action has an impact. Every single action counts.

Government is counting on us to be tired and quiet (and let's be real, maybe we are just a little bit tired). But we are also powerful, united and ready. Let's show this government that our lives are not an easy target for their budget savings.

02/05/2026

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/17UUQYAfky/?mibextid=wwXIfr

It’s hard to fathom the scale of a $35 billion cut to the NDIS.

Imagine a single piece of LEGO. Let’s say that tiny piece represents $1 million.

Now imagine how many pieces make up $35 billion.

You wouldn’t just have a pile - you’d build a wall FOURTEEN METRES LONG AND ONE METRE HIGH.

Let that sink in.

There are no alternative disability supports in place. We don't know what legislation changes are planned to make it happen. We haven’t seen the full modelling underpinning this astronomical cut. But we do know this:

• Hundreds of thousands of people could lose access to the NDIS
• Thousands more will lose essential daily supports
• Everyone will face reassessment for eligibility
• Over 200,000 jobs could be impacted, including jobs held by people with disability
• No therapy practice or provider will be untouched

This is people’s lives, supports, and futures.

Want to take action? Here’s how:

If you’re a professional or provider, support grassroots advocacy by joining our low-cost event (link in comments ). You’ll learn how to show up as an ally at a critical time, hear from leading advocates such as Dr George Taleporos (GAICD, PhD) and Stevie Lang Howson and your ticket will directly support the intense campaigning and advocacy needed in the weeks ahead.

Please share this with your networks.

And follow the incredible work already underway by Every Australian Counts, Disabled People Against Cuts (Australia), AND disability-led organisations, and advocates across the country.

This moment matters.



*The visual attached is for concept illustration purposes, measurement is not exact.

24/04/2026

The government plans to cut the number of NDIS users by 160,000 over the next four years. Here’s what we know about how they’ll do that and who’ll be affected.