Sue Spence – Horses Helping Humans™ Founder and Program Developer
Sue Spence has over 30 years in health centre management, education and life coaching. As a Motivational coach, Sue was sponsored by Nike for her contribution to the fitness industry. Sue’s HELP program, developed to teach instructors how to recognise eating disorders and exercise addiction within the industry, was approved by Fitness Australia to educate fitness professionals.
Sue has 40 years equestrian experience in show jumping, eventing, and has specialised in natural horsemanship (horse whispering) for the past 25 years, successfully competing in many natural horsemanship shows. The specialised Horses Helping Humans Program has grown out of the well-known and highly regarded work that Sue Spence has been doing for many years in using horses to help humans learn effective communication skills and body language skills. Demand for the Program quickly grew throughout the local youth organisations.
Sue Spence is an educator who is known as an outstanding communications coach, a public speaker, workshop facilitator, author, and teaches communication skills to corporate groups, underprivileged youth and other disadvantaged groups using the principles of natural horsemanship.
Sue was the first person to identify that different personality profiles exhibited differing body language when under pressure. Her business Horses Helping Humans™ has been featured in numerous reports, events, programs, newspapers, and magazines.
Sue specialises in personality profiling and body language analysis. Her four horses represent a modern adaption of The Four Temperaments theoretical framework, and her unique work demonstrates how choleric, melancholy, sanguine and phlegmatic personality types have their own conditioned responses when under pressure. ‘Horse whispering’ meets ‘people whispering’ within her innovative equine-assisted life coaching program that integrates interpersonal communication skills, body language, emotional intelligence and personality types. Sue says she is “simply making each personality conscious of the body language that is hindering their communication”.
When in the arena, Sue and her horses facilitate immediate change in those they help, hence her great demand from youth organisations, support workers and mental health specialists. Meanwhile, global opportunities as a keynote speaker and panel member have allowed her to bring this magic into boardrooms and more communities. Sue works with multi-national companies, psychologists, psychiatrists, small businesses, schools, event organisers, community groups and celebrities. She has unlocked effective communication skills for people ranging from CEOs – to actors – to disadvantaged youth.
Sue’s commitment to the program and the community has been recognised through the following awards:
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2022 McPherson Community Achiever Award
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2021 Gold Coast Women in Business – Finalist Business Adaptation & Ingenuity and a Merit Achievement in the overall Business Awards
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2018 Heart of Woman Awards - Youth & Children’s Services
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2016 Gold Coast Business Woman of the Year Award winner for ‘Creating Change’
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2014 Gold Coast Women in Business Community Dedication Award Winner 2014.
She has presented on Network Ten, featured on the cover of How to Present magazine, been interviewed for ABC Radio, and been written up in the Sydney Morning Herald, the Australian’s Women’s Weekly and international magazines. She has been patiently spreading her messages of self-acceptance, anti-bullying, effective body language skills and respect to the world.
Currently, Sue works with horses and clients on the Gold Coast, Australia, and her vision is to see people trained to deliver the program across Australia and New Zealand. Sue lives by her motto; “There should never be any intimidation or fear in communication; there should only be mutual respect and trust”. She has faced many personal challenges herself and is passionate about sharing with others how to overcome adversity. Sue is also dedicated to her horses, entrepreneurship, community, and about giving everyone access to the skills they need to thrive, no matter what their background or self-perceived limitations.