Dustie Houchin MBA. PG.Cert.Paeds.PGCert.HE. BSc (Hons) Ost. PG.Dip,AO. MPAO.

Dustie has worked in the field of human and animal health since the age of 16. She graduated from the British School of Osteopathy in 1998, before completing a Diploma in Animal Osteopathy with the European School of Osteopathy in 2000. In 2006, she furthered her education at Ashridge Business School graduating with honours from their Advanced Management Programme and went onto complete an MBA with Warwick Business School, where she was awarded a scholarship to attend SDA Bocconi School of Management.

Upon graduation, Dustie sought a position at the European School of Osteopathy where her motivation to improve the education of those seeking to treat animals, led her to undertake a Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education. After this, she wrote the UK’s first MSc, PG Dip and PG certificate in Animal Osteopathy, written by an osteopathic school. She was commended by the validating university – the University of Greenwich – and became the Programme Leader of both human and animal courses at the ESO, until she left to build her own school (Animal Osteopathy International) in 2018. AOI is now one of the largest providers of animal osteopathy in the world.

Dustie’s fight for the animal osteopathic profession and the welfare of animals also led to her becoming a Founder Member & Chair of the Association of Animal Osteopaths and the Register of Animal Musculoskeletal Practitioners (RAMP), in an attempt to direct the professional toward professional regulation and quality assurance. She also remains a QAA Reviewer & Assessor for the General Osteopathic Council, and supports various international schools who seek upward development. This means that Dustie understands the industry very well and knows exactly how to support students entering the field of animal manual therapy so that they succeed at every level.

As a Master Practitioner (AO) and lecturer, Dustie is empathetic, kind and encouraging. Her main clinical interest is informed practice and physiological complexity, using a biopsychosocial approach to look at the patient and their environment as a total unit, and acknowledging the impact of psychological stressors. She seeks to understand not only the animal patients, but the ecological system framework within which they function.

Dustie has supported hundreds, if not thousands, of students during her time as an international lecturer and examiner of animal & human osteopathy, and has presented lectures and workshops at international conferences and many well known schools over the past 20 years. She is excited to share her knowledge and experience with the students of Equinology, and looks forward to supporting its students over the coming years.