Yawardani Jan-ga: where horses help young people heal

Professor Juli Coffin, Founder of Yawardani Jan-ga. Photo: Yawardani Jan-ga.

On Yawuru Country in the Kimberley, there's a place where horses are supporting Aboriginal children and young people to build confidence, trust and connection. 

That place is Yawardani Jan-ga, meaning ‘Horses Helping’ in the Yawuru language. 

Founded by Professor Juli Coffin in 2018, Yawardani Jan-ga is an Aboriginal-led organisation using Equine Assisted Learning to support Aboriginal children and young people to connect with their strengths through culturally safe, trauma-informed learning alongside horses.

Community First Development has been walking alongside Yawardani Jan-ga since 2025, supporting the organisation to strengthen the foundations behind their work and build towards their long-term vision.

Learning alongside horses

Equine Assisted Learning isn't about riding horses or learning how to care for them. It's about working alongside horses through guided activities on the ground.

Young people might be invited to solve a problem, communicate with a horse, or work through a challenge together. Along the way, the horses offer immediate and honest feedback.

Horses respond to body language, emotions, and energy in the moment. For young people, this creates a safe way to practice communication and self-awareness without judgement and without needing to find the ‘right’ words.

Through these experiences, young people can develop trust, communication, emotional regulation, and confidence. They can try new ways of responding to challenges and discover strengths they may not have recognised in themselves before.

For some young people, being with horses on Country offers something that traditional services cannot. It creates space to slow down, feel safe, and reconnect with themselves, with others and with the strengths they already carry.

A community vision

Behind the work is a passionate team of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people who understand the power of connection, relationships and Aboriginal ways of working.

Juli brings together her experience in education, public health, Aboriginal youth wellbeing and Equine Assisted Psychotherapy. Her research into Aboriginal young people's experiences of bullying and relationships has also helped shape an approach grounded in safety, trust and connection.

But Yawardani Jan-ga is about more than one program or one location. There is a much bigger vision behind the work.

The organisation wants to make their services accessible to more communities, while building the local capability needed to make that growth sustainable. Yawardani Jan-ga has already received requests to expand across Western Australia and Australia, but further investment is needed to make that vision possible.

As Juli says: 

“Yawardani Jan-ga wants to be accessible for all those who require its service. We would like to see the project expand to all communities where capacity exists and build with community where capacity is required.” 

When community leads, healing looks different

Culture isn't something added to the program. It's part of the foundation.

Aboriginal practitioners, Elders and community members guide the work, ensuring it reflects local knowledge, values and ways of being. The approach recognises that healing is collective, relational and grounded in connection to Country, culture and community.

Yawardani Jan-ga is also investing in the future by training Aboriginal Equine Assisted Learning practitioners and creating opportunities for local leadership, employment and knowledge sharing across the Kimberley.

Since 2018, Yawardani Jan-ga has engaged more than 1,000 Aboriginal children and young people across the Kimberley and trained more than 30 local Aboriginal practitioners in Equine Assisted Learning, strengthening both youth wellbeing and local community capability.

Research and community feedback continue to show positive outcomes for young people, including stronger emotional regulation, healthier relationships, improved confidence, and greater engagement with school, family, and community life.

And the impact goes beyond individual outcomes.

For young people, these changes can show up in small but powerful ways: feeling safe enough to try something new, finding words for what they are experiencing, and building trust with others.

Yawardani Jan-ga is building local knowledge and capability, strengthening Aboriginal leadership and contributing to a growing evidence base for culturally responsive approaches to youth wellbeing.

Yawardani Jan-ga is showing what can happen when communities are supported to build on their own knowledge, strengths, and aspirations.

Walking alongside Yawardani Jan-ga

Senior Community Development Officer Nikkeeta enjoyed yarning with Juli, founder of Yawardani Jan-ga.

Community First Development partnered with Yawardani Jan-ga to strengthen their communications, to share more of their story through social media, raising awareness of their services, and connecting with more communities, supporters and potential funders.

For Senior Community Development Officer Nikkeeta who is working closely with Juli, the communications support was about supporting their vision to move forward.

“It's one step closer to creating a successful business, a piece of the puzzle solved.”

As the partnership continues, Community First Development is working alongside Yawardani Jan-ga on projects related to strategic and business planning, strengthening governance and building grant writing capability. Ultimately, supporting the organisation to secure the resources needed to deliver its vision for future generations.

For Juli, the strength of the partnership has been in the way the work has been done. She shared that she felt respected and trusted by the team and saw Yawardani Jan-ga's priorities reflected in the partnership.

Our role is not to lead the work. It is to back the aspirations of First Peoples.