Animal healing therapy is more than a trend-it’s a lifeline for people stuck in traditional therapy and disconnected from themselves. Matt and Jezey Wolf left their careers to build a healing sanctuary in Queensland where horses, buffalo, and nature become partners in recovery. In this episode of Animals & Us, they share how trust-based horsemanship and equine-assisted therapy helped them heal, and how young people disengaged from school and adults stuck for years in therapy have found breakthrough through working with animals.
⚠️ Content advisory: this episode discusses violence, which some listeners may find distressing.
If you need support, you’re not alone — help is available:
• Lifeline (24/7 crisis support): 13 11 14 · lifeline.org.au
When therapy stalls, when school fails young people, when human connection alone isn’t enough, animals offer something different. Matt and Jezey Wolf grew up around animals-Jezey as a kid drawn to every creature on the property, Matt working horses and cattle on his grandparents’ farm. They met through martial arts, relocated to acreage in Queensland, and started collecting animals. Visitors repeatedly said they felt profoundly calm and safe there. Both independently studied equine-assisted therapy and realised they were onto something real: horses, especially those trained with trust rather than dominance, sense when someone is incongruent and create space for vulnerability. COVID crystallized what they already knew. People desperately needed reconnection to nature and animals. They formalised Wolfpack Health & Wellness, combining structured therapy with the healing power of animals.
🕒 CHAPTERS:
00:00 Welcome and introduction
01:02 Jezey’s childhood: the Pied Piper and animals
05:42 Matt’s early years on the farm and leaving school at 14
09:11 How they met through martial arts and fighting
11:30 Visitors report healing; the spark of Wolfpack
16:45 The meaning of Wolfpack: community and belonging
19:43 The menagerie: 13 horses, buffalo, and beyond
27:00 How different animals show up in therapy and healing
31:31 Young people, boundaries, and the horse that says no
39:50 Do the horses choose their human? Invitation and consent
44:04 From breaking to partnership: Matt’s shift in horsemanship
52:27 Final words: honor your draw to animals
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📌 RESOURCES MENTIONED:
Wolfpack Health & Wellness: wolfpackwellness.clinic
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Welcome.
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Kintsugi Heroes was created from a simple belief: every person has a story worth sharing, and sometimes the story we need to hear arrives exactly when we need it most.
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