Tracie Faa-Thompson

Tracie is a specialist social worker in adoption working with traumatized children and their adoptive and foster families. She is a British Association of Play Therapists-registered play therapist who uses a mix of individual play therapy, filial therapy, and group filial methods.

Tracie is a practice teacher of social work students and newly qualified social workers, and a trainer in Life Story Work and Attachment Theory. As a clinical hypnotherapist, Tracie incorporates Eye Movement Integration with Emotional Freedom Technique as an effective approach to trauma. Hailing from a Scottish/Romany Traveller family, Tracie has grown up with dogs and horses as integral to her native culture.

Tracie is a member of the Classical Riding Club and Natural Horse People. She is the Founder of Turn About Pegasus, an Equine Assisted Programme for traumatised children and Families. Tracie is EAGALA (Equine Assisted Growth and Learning Association) certified, dual approved as both mental health and horse specialist.

Tracie is the author of numerous manuals, articles, and training programmes on attachment and resilience, life story work, sibling contact in adoption, introductions of adoptive families and children, EAL/EAP, and Animal Assisted Play Therapy. She is co-author of the book Animal Assisted Play Therapy which won the coveted Maxwell Award 2018 under the Category Human Animal Bond.

Tracie and Dr Rise Van Fleet have been collaborating since 2006 to bring together the modalities of play therapy and animal assisted therapies into a cohesive ethical and playful way of working. Tracie and Rise founded the International Institute of Animal Assisted Play Therapy ™