• Medowie | Veterinary Herbalist | Parkes •
Is your animal coping –
and how would you know?
The animal’s willingness may be unconditional
their vital force is not.
Willow Wise Therapies helps you recognise when coping is no longer wellbeing, describe what is changing and restore reciprocity before your animal’s body has to become the warning.
For The Animal Who Keeps Giving
This work is for the animal whose willingness to give has been extraordinary and for the human companion who is beginning to wonder what that giving may be costing.
You want to know whether what you are seeing is a real change or just a day.
You want to describe it clearly enough that your vet can use it.
You want decisions about work, public access, competition, ageing or rest to come from your animal’s state
— not only from the calendar, the rules or fear.
Book the 'Let's Talk Nourish' Discovery Call
Animal minds matter.
Willingness to give. Willingness to do.
Working and assistance animals have this in spades.
But their capacity may shift before their willingness ever does.
What You’re Holding
You’re holding a lot at once. What the vet said. What you’ve noticed at home that didn’t come up in the consult room. A change in how she greets you. The days he’s flat afterwards. Something you can’t quite name, that you mentioned once and let go.
You’ve done the training.
You’ve asked.
You’ve been told she’s fine,
or that he’s a working dog,
or that you’re reading too much into it.
So you watch. You keep a list you never write down.
And somewhere in it is the thought that if you were handling this better, none of this would be happening.
The animal’s giving is visible, but the cost of that giving is not always legible.
Their willingness can be mistaken for resilience.
Their training can be mistaken for capacity.
Their continued participation can be mistaken for wellbeing.
What is…
Animal Mental Health
noun: Mental health – a state of well-being that helps an individual cope with life’s normal stresses, work well, learn and give back.
You are in partnership with another individual. A unique being with sense of self and a sense of well-being. You know their quirks and sometimes like to guess at their feelings.
Their well-being matters.
To you they are everything.
Their bríg, their vital force that lets them cope with life and give willingly, can be steady or strained, replenished or depleted.
You know it, you feel their state of vitality.
Both of you nourish and are nourished, lead and are led and are understood and understand because you are in relationship.
These are the hallmarks of connection that support well-being.
When their demeanour shifts, you worry.
The usual explanations are often training, pain, or “you’re humanising them.”
Sometimes one or more of those is true. Sometimes there is another layer.
Because health isn’t merely the absence of disease or infirmity, or a state of over-caring.
Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social wellbeing.
My Proprietary Process
The Liminal Keys™
The Liminal Keys™ are tangible keys for stepping into the liminal space of animal healthcare: the place where your knowledge of your animal, your animal’s health and wellbeing and the wider healthcare picture need to come into clearer relationship.
They reveal a central truth of this work: the transformative power of animals is not infinite, but it can be replenished through animal-centred healthcare.
Together we describe your animal’s health and wellbeing, gather the story and resources, formulate the healthcare question, collaborate with the right supports and evaluate what changes over time.
Who we help
This work is for horses, dogs and cats
— and for the human companion who knows them best.
Often the animal is doing something demanding. An assistance dog holding public access. A horse who competes, travels, or has been asked to change jobs. A working dog whose day is long. Sometimes the animal is ageing, chronically unwell, or moving through a passage — a retirement, a diagnosis, a loss in the household.
And you're the one holding their story: the repeated observations, the preferences that never show up in a clinic room and the knowledge what has already been tried, received, resisted or endured.
Working alongside your vet
Your Veterinary Herbalist
Hullo, I’m Susan Johnson.
I’ve been in practice since 1998, a medicinal herbalist since 2010 and a veterinary herbalist since 2018.
I work in the space beside your veterinarian: not replacing diagnosis, emergency care, surgery, pharmaceutical medication or restricted veterinary acts, but helping the animal’s wider healthcare picture become clearer.
As a veterinary herbalist, I bring qualified animal-centred veterinary western herbal medicine, nutrition, clinical reasoning and a dedication to providing animal-centred healthcare— healthcare that keeps your animal at the centre and helps you bring what you know into their wider healthcare picture.
Your animal is not a checklist. Their body, behaviour, history, preferences, workload, environment, relationship, medications and veterinary care all belong in the picture.
Herbal prescribing is within my scope. It is considered healthcare, not casual supplement advice: consultation, written records, medication and interaction checks, formulation decisions and collaboration with your veterinary care team where needed.
My aim is simple: to help you understand what your animal is showing and support their physical, mental and social wellbeing through clear, coordinated animal-centred healthcare.
Direct-access, personalised membership support
This is not a program where you are handed information and left to work out what applies. It is not about taking command of your animal’s healthcare either.
Membership gives you direct access to personalised support for your animal’s healthcare. You have a place to bring what you are noticing, what your animal is showing, what your vet has said, what has helped and what still feels unresolved.
Because the support is ongoing, your animal’s story does not have to be rebuilt from the beginning each time. Patterns can be followed, the wider healthcare picture can stay visible and the next responsible step can be easier to find. Your questions can be answered when you have them.
The purpose is to help remove obstacles to your animal’s wellbeing and strengthen your capacity to restore reciprocity in your relationship with them.
How To Begin
The Liminal Keys Wayfinding Program
You don’t start by choosing a program.
You start with a Let’s Talk Nourish Discovery Call. It’s $5, by telehealth and every dollar goes to mindDog Australia. It’s a short conversation about what’s happening and whether I’m the right person for you and your animal.
If it makes sense to go further, the next step is a The Liminal Keys™ Wayfinding Consult. That’s where we look at your animal’s story, what you’re already carrying and what your circumstances actually allow.
A membership pathway is only offered after the Wayfinding Consult — when there’s enough understood to know which tier is right for your animal and you.
Nobody selects their own tier here and nothing ongoing begins before The Liminal Keys™ Wayfinding Consult.
***Each membership tier has a one time case fee of $297 to secure initial appointment.
Nourish
Ideal for those looking for learning- Minimum 12 months subscription
- Weekly Open Office Hours group visit
- Access to Office Hours replays
- The Liminal Keys™ 30 Days of Nourishment
- Quantum Quarter Wayfinding Review
- 2 portal messages per month
Move
Ideal for those looking for coaching support- Minimum 3 months subscription
- Weekly Open Office Hours group visit
- Access to Open Office Hours replays
- The Liminal Keys™ 30 Days of Nourishment
- Quantum Quarter Wayfinding Review
- Portal messaging
- 30 minutes per month with our veterinary herbalist
Know
Ideal for complex cases- Minimum 3 month subscription
- Weekly Open Office Hours group visit
- Access to Office Hours replays
- The Liminal Keys™ 30 Days of Nourishment
- Quantum Quarter Wayfinding Review
- Portal messaging
- 60 minutes per month with our veterinary herbalist
- 20% discount on prescribed nutraceuticals
- Veterinary herbal medicine prescription compounding
- Personal video lab interpretation
- Collaboration with veterinary primary care provider & care team
Every Membership starts with a 'Let's Talk Nourish' Discovery Call
On this call we’ll discuss your unique animal and goals to determine the best path forward.
Access
Location, telehealth and in-person care
I’m based at Medowie, in Port Stephens and I work regularly in Parkes. Between the two I travel — through the Upper Hunter, Merriwa and Wellington.
Much of this work doesn’t need me in the room.
Nourish and Move are delivered entirely by telehealth.
Know begins with one consult in person, then one each quarter in person, with everything between by telehealth.
That’s deliberate — it’s what makes steady care possible across this distance.
Willow Wise Therapies works alongside your veterinary care team.
If your animal has acute symptoms, sudden deterioration, severe pain, difficulty breathing, collapse, suspected poisoning, injury or anything urgent, contact your vet or an emergency clinic now.
This work does not replace veterinary diagnosis, emergency care, surgery, pharmaceutical medication or restricted veterinary acts.
Herbal prescribing is provided within scope and checked against your animal’s history, current medications and veterinary care.
Frequently Asked Questions
