Shane Healey & Peta Lowe of Pegasus Connections

Shane Healey enlisted in the Australian Army in 1995, serving in an elite infantry parachute regiment and later as a reserve special forces soldier. After a serious back injury in 2001, he became a Royal Australian Navy Clearance Diver before returning to the Army in 2003 as a military dive instructor. From 2004 to 2008, he worked as a private military contractor in the Middle East, training Iraqi Special Forces and participating in major combat, including the second battle of Fallujah. Reenlisting in 2009, Shane served as an intelligence operator in Special Operations Command, with deployments to Afghanistan in 2010/2011 and 2012, where his threat assessments aided critical operations. He later joined the Special Operations Tactical Assault Group and provided threat advice for key international events. Shane deployed to Iraq in 2014-2015 with Operation Inherent Resolve against ISIS. Since 2018, he has consulted on terrorism and extremism threat assessments and co-founded Pegasus Connections in 2023, supporting veterans through mental health programs and equine-assisted therapy.

Peta Lowe is the Principal Consultant at Phronesis Consulting and Training and a former Director of Countering Violent Extremism for Juvenile Justice in NSW. With degrees in Social Work, Business, and Terrorism and Security Studies, Peta has extensive experience in assessing and managing violent extremism risks, particularly among young people. She provides expert risk assessments and has trained professionals in using the VERA-2R risk assessment tool both nationally and internationally. Peta consults for various global organizations, including the UN, and co-authored key publications on reintegration of violent extremists. She is a regular speaker at international conferences on terrorism and violent extremism.

Pegasus Connections was founded to provide an alternative to traditional therapy and services offered to individuals and their families. It was founded with the recognition that the current services offered did not meet the needs of everyone, from the lived experience of both founders who have each experienced the broader support services paradigm. Pegasus Connections seeks to provide support and services for any individuals, families, groups or workplaces who wa