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Stable Bushfire Therapy - Emily Fagg

On Wednesday 8th Oct 2025, guest Emily Fagg spoke to members on “Stable Bushfire Therapy”. Bushfires in Australia are all too common, and communities experiencing the trauma of bushfires suffer from deep mental health issues, which unfortunately often lead to suicide. The people in those communities require counselling to heal from the debilitating symptoms of trauma.

Emily has been in private practice for ~15 years, starting as a life coach, then moving into transpersonal (holistic) counselling and more recently as a somatic trauma counsellor. Emily’s lifelong connection to horses lead to her establishing the business Equine Learning Experiences Australia, now called Stable Therapy. Horses have always, and continue to be, my biggest teachers. The resources horses draw upon to move through stress and trauma (if not impeded by people) is something we can learn from and apply to our own healing journey.

Emily commented that our central nervous system communicates with our body continuously, and if the nervous system is under stress, our body feels under stress. Locals struggling with the trauma caused by the immense destruction of bushfires, often causes chronic health issues and stress on our nervous system. The nervous system is simply trying to survive, find a survival pathway and heal from the trauma. Healing the trauma helps us create balance in our hearts, minds and bodies.

Emily asked members to view a series of thought-provoking photos – some showing destruction, some with new life, some with death, some cute animals. The photos certainly raised all levels of emotion for each of us, which each of us felt differently within our body.

Emily said; imagine how all the people caught up in the 2019-20 Australian Bushfire Season, our worst natural disaster, must have felt. 11,500+ fires. 24 million hectares. 450 lives lost. 3 billion animals displaced or killed. During the fires and afterwards, Emily worked extensively in the Cabargo, Cann River & Mallacoota areas, providing trauma therapy to 1,804 clients.

Recovering from the heightened levels of trauma can be very difficult from some, Emily found the question “When was the first moment when you knew you were safe?” as a circuit breaker, redirecting a person’s mind to positive thoughts and the nervous system to healing, beginning the recovery process. Healing begins when we know that we’re not alone. We work with clients both humans and horses to return back to a state of safety and connection where life and the relationship we have with ourselves and those around us feels safe, and we can expand and grow into our full potential, our true self, our birthright.

Emily was awarded Victorian Rural “Business Woman of the Year 2016 – Runner Up”, for her contribution to community both locally (Golden Plains Shire) and on a state level. This award recognises the importance of trauma therapy and the positive impact it can provide to affected individuals and communities.