High school student Athena Perkusich takes a step forward in a dusty paddock on the outskirts of Broome, 2,000 kilometres north of Perth in Western Australia's remote Kimberley.
Behind her, a horse quietly follows.
When she stops walking, the trotting behind her comes to a halt.
It's a bond that runs deep.
"It helps you connect; it also helps you self-control," Athena says.
"I can really calm down when I'm with the horses … I can really slow down and I feel very happy."
She points towards her favourite horse, Paris, who has been her main riding companion for almost four years.
"The first day I came here, Paris went through all the effort just to get her head through the bars and kneel her head down onto mine," she says.
As Athena approaches, Paris edges closer.
"I've always had her … she can feel very strong emotions," she says.
Horses healing
About four years ago, Athena was just one of a few hundred people attending the Yawardani Jan-ga (Horses Helping) Equine-Assisted Learning program.
More than 2,000 young First Nations people have since experienced the benefits of equine therapy through the initiative.
The Kimberley region in far-north Western Australia has one of the highest youth suicide rates in the world.
It's a harrowing statistic that Nyangumarta woman and Murdoch University Professor Juli Coffin is committed to changing through the program.
"We've started lots of ripples, but we really need a tidal wave," she says.
"The suicide rate is one thing, but the causal pathways to that: the incarceration of young people, detention centre overload with our Aboriginal young people, school truancy rates, all of the negative statistics — it's just not good enough."
Exposed to horses from a young age on stations, Professor Coffin says they had a profound impact on her wellbeing.
"It wasn't until I was a fair bit older that I realised what horses were doing for me," she says.
"I kind of wish I had that level of understanding when I was younger or someone that could have given me that kind of support when I really needed it."
As prey animals, horses can sense human body language and emotion.
Professor Coffin says equine-assisted learning improves emotional regulation, understanding of boundaries and positive self-thought
"They are like this amazing wellbeing thermometer ... they tell us what's going on with us just by the way they respond to us," she says.
"For some young people, it might be a long time between positive events."
The program is run on a property just under 1 hectare near Broome but will soon move to a 3ha block near the water in the coastal town. Another centre is operating in Derby.
Now there is growing demand for its expansion into other regions, with a program in Fitzroy Valley opening later this year and plans for a centre in Kununurra in the pipeline.
Focus on needs of youth
Professor Coffin says the program is much more than "warm fuzzies" and is a scientifically proven clinical approach to building and maintaining young people's wellbeing.
Since its inception, the program has collated more than 43,000 photos of participants' interactions with horses and video and clinical notes to monitor progress.
"Nobody's got a collective like that for Aboriginal young people around their social and emotional wellbeing, so we've got some really important work," Professor Coffin says.
"Now it's about really evaluating ... evidence basing this work in an Aboriginal way, like we know our young people need."
But she says this unconventional research technique hasn't been easy.
"That's been a bit of a challenge really getting the research world around the way that we want to evaluate," Professor Coffin says.
"We're really not too interested in numbers; we're more interested in the quality of what happens out here."
Tactile connection helpful
Registered psychologist Victoria Hovane, a Ngarluma, Jaru and Gooniyandi woman who grew up in the Kimberley and now resides in Perth, says talking therapy is not the "be-all and end-all".
"If we look to the literature and evidence on responding to trauma, there is ample evidence that supports this multimodal kind of approach, the value of animals like dogs and horses in therapy," she says.
Professor Hovane says that animals are particularly helpful for young people who carry complex trauma.
"They help to ground children or those experiencing trauma," she says.
"It keeps them grounded, connected and it's quite amazing the power of that connection."
She says Aboriginal-led and community-based organisations are "critical" for making an impact on Indigenous young people.
"Having a voice that reflects people's agency, self-determination is part of the healing process for our people," she says.
"I'm excited by what [this] program has to offer our youth, our young people, there should be more of it."
Zuri McArthur works on the Broome property with her mother and says she's witnessed the impact the program can have.
"[The horses] may not talk, but they listen and they will feel how you feel. And they won't leave you alone until they know that you're all better and you feel happy," she says.
"I'll be in an upset mood and they're down themselves and then you're in a good mood and they're all silly."
As Athena's grandfather tells her it's time to get going, she smiles and says she'll stay with the horses for a bit longer.