The Jane Dillon Bursary

The Jane Dillon Bursary will enables an individual or family dealing with trauma to benefit from a six week-long equine therapy course delivered by The Seeds of Change. Find out more and how to apply.

  • To celebrate 15 years of helping young people and families to cope with major challenges in their lives, The Seeds of Change is launching an extremely personal initiative – The Jane Dillon Bursary.

    The Jane Dillon Bursary will enable an individual or family dealing with trauma to benefit from a six week-long equine therapy course delivered from The Seeds of Change’s 17 acre outdoor learning environment – The Acorn Centre - in Walgrave, Northamptonshire.  Each programme will be designed specifically to support the mental, physical and emotional needs of the successful applicant and will be carried out by Katherine Dillon, Co-Founder and Director of The Seeds of Change, who has more than 20 years of expertise working in the field of equine therapy and is the beloved sister of Jane Dillon, to whom the bursary honours.

    Jane Dillon was only days away from her 16th birthday when she tragically lost her life as the result of a childhood cancer. Older sister to Katherine, Jane always loved being outdoors enjoying the fresh air and lived in the village of Walgrave in Northamptonshire for most of her childhood.

    The trauma for Jane and her family, before, during and after her illness had a broad impact on them as they struggled to come to terms with Jane’s death. Katherine, herself, was eventually diagnosed with post trauma as the impact of losing her sister at the age of nine took hold. Missing lots of her time in school due to illness, Katherine was introduced to horses and from that point on the healing process started.

In 2011 The Seeds of Change opened the doors to the Acorn Centre at Walgrave which was built and named in memory of Jane - a centre to help support children and families who are affected by all kinds of trauma and life-challenges. To date, several thousand children have been able to benefit from the work of this amazing and unique organisation, which uses horses to support them to progress within their lives with strategies that help them to cope with or overcome their traumatic experiences.

Katherine Dillon, Director of The Seeds of Change and Founder of The Jane Dillon Bursary, said: “Trauma and its long-term effects can be life-debilitating. My desire to help those experiencing grief, loss and trauma in their lives, burns as deeply within me as it ever did.  My hope is that The Jane Dillon Bursary will not only offer a small beacon of hope to some of the many families or individuals facing huge challenges in their lives, but, also, that it will keep Jane’s light burning bright.”

The application process for the January course is now closed. The next opportunity to apply for the Bursary will be advertised in the New Year on our website and in our newsletter – subscribe for our latest news here