Animal Therapies Ltd Australia Conference

The 2023 Animal-Assisted Services “In Person” Conference is being held on the 16 and 17 February 2023 at Brisbane Airport Conference Centre. A National event showcasing Australia’s Animal-Assisted Services Sector, a rapidly growing health support industry that is meeting the many mental and physical health needs of our communities. We are offering both *virtual and in person access to the conference. 

Our theme for the 2023 conference is “Bridging Animal-Assisted Practice with Research”

Animal Therapies Ltd (ATL) is the leading Australian institution for promoting the prevention and management of mental illness, disability, disease and suffering through animal-assisted services. This includes people at risk of, or who are, experiencing mental illness, eye disease, hearing impairment, seizures, asthma, life-threatening allergies, diabetes, fluctuating blood pressure, cerebral palsy, autism, post-traumatic stress, episodic or serious medical crises, disability, acquired brain injury, multiple sclerosis, stroke, spinal cord injury, and other physical, neurological, or psychological conditions.

ATL is a registered health promotion charity committed to assisting people through the provision of animal-assisted information through our website registry and funded services. ATL is also committed to providing opportunities for education and the dissemination of research, that brings clarification to the important contributions to human health that animal-assisted services offer. Additionally, our aim is to facilitate networking and professional development opportunities for those interested in or working in the animal-assisted services sector.

The conference will bring together a broad range of experienced speakers and presenters for our audience’s engagement. They will include researchers, allied health professionals delivering Animal-Assisted Therapy (AAT), educators, coaches, learning and development professionals delivering Animal-Assisted Learning (AAL), Visitation Animal organisations who visit workplaces, hospitals, aged care homes, places of study, and other institutions delivering Animal-Assisted Activities (AAA), and assistance animal trainers meeting standards as required to help people with a disability, better access public life (AA).

We use the Whova event application that pivots from in-person to virtual events, providing a suite of interactive tools. This allows the subscriber to tailor their own rich learning experience and networking opportunities. Delegates will have full access to recorded sessions on demand for a 6-month period after the close of the conference. Closed captions will be available for all live sessions and transcripts are available for recorded sessions upon request. 

This conference received grant funding from the Australian Government for eligible people with a disability or their carers to attend virtually through the National Disability Conference Initiative. Registrations under this funding arrangement are strictly limited. To apply for fully funded virtual attendance under this program, please apply using this link.

The conference provides a great opportunity to network with corporate, business, and community organisations, health practitioners, industry leaders, funding body and government representatives,  service providers, universities, training organisations, people who have a disability or a lived experience of how animals have helped them, and those people who are looking to work in the sector.

* Panel Discussions are not available on the virtual platform

** The agenda is subject to change

*** If unable to attend in-person after registering;
– in-person registration can be transferred to a nominated person; OR
– a refund can be given once the cost of virtual registration and fees already paid by ATL to stripe and Whova have been deducted from the total amount paid.
**** Virtual registration fees are non-refundable