Aligned Living Pty Ltd is a small business owned by Joy Curran. Joy is currently supported by 6 horses, and several amazing people who are in love with the mission and want to help out. Aligned Living is set up as a business rather than a not for profit to reduce administrative responsibilities.
“I spent much of my life as a child either playing with horses or pretending to be a horse!” Joy Curran reflects, “There was something about the beauty, power and community of horses that was fun and free and sending me an invitation to come and play.” As the eldest child in a broken home Joy found that spending time with horses helped her to feel better, less lonely. After a few years of riding horses around the farm, Joy explored the world of natural horsemanship. She wanted a way of working with her horses as a partner in a fulfilling relationship rather than a dictatorship. Since then she hasn’t looked back and has continued her journey of learning about horses.
“I know how much horses helped me to process my emotions, develop leadership skills and even relationship skills. I thought about all the young people who don’t have any access to horses and I wanted to make sure that everyone had a chance to experience the healing and learning that can come from working with horses. When my grandparents were young, everyone had access to horses as they were used for work and transport. Now times have changed, but it doesn’t mean that we don’t still need horses in our lives for other reasons.”
From her 18th birthday Joy dreamed of being able to offer other young people an opportunity to learn social and emotional skills through working with horses, just as she had done. Believing passionately in the possibility of emotional healing and the ability to make wise choices Joy pursued counselling, mentoring, coaching and Christian spirituality. Everything helped in different ways and now Joy gets to experience the meaning of her name and feels privileged to be able to share that experience with others.