Working relationship just grew naturally for farm friends

Simone Potter has a background in teaching and counselling and Layla Taylor is a former family lawyer and swim teacher. But at Don's Farm in Avondale, this unlikely duo has built a thriving community centred on their shared belief that children learn best in nature.

Simone is director at Bush Magic Adventure Therapy and Layla is operations manager.

How they met

In mid-2024, Layla was looking for a reason to get outdoors with her young children when she made a term booking at Bush Magic Adventures. There, she met Simone, who offered her a job at the end of that first term.

“I had an almost two-year-old and a four-month-old baby,” Layla says. "I'm pretty reclusive; I don't like to go out of the house. So I was like, 'Oh, I'll take him to a nature playgroup and I'll pay for the whole term,' and because I paid for it, it'll make me leave the house."

Simone said the one of the playgroup facilitator, who was finishing up at the centre, suggested that Layla would be a really good person to take over. "I spoke to her and I was like, 'Oh my gosh, she's amazing!” Simone recalls.

Layla said the arrangement suited her because she could bring her boys with her as she worked at Bush Magic Adventures.

How are they different?

Despite their shared mission, Simone and Layla bring different perspectives from different stages in life. Simone is a mother to a grown-up and an almost-grown-up kid, while Layla is in the thick of it with three young children, having recently welcomed a new addition to her family. They say that their differences create the perfect balance in the workplace.

“She seems way more easygoing than I am,” Simone says.

"She doesn't get fazed about anything, whereas I get stressed about everything. I really love that about her because she balances me out."

Layla agrees that their personalities occupy different spaces, particularly when it comes to the creative side of Bush Magic.

“I find she's so artistic and all of her music performance stuff that she does is really cool, whereas there's no way I could do that. I couldn't get up in front of people and do things like that,” Layla says.

While Simone provides the creative vision, Layla provides the structure.

“She's so super-organised and I have trouble organising myself... she does our social media stuff and she's just got folders with all the different things in it. I don't even know how to do that,” Simone laughs.

“When I started working for Simone, I said to her, 'I don't know anything about it, but I know you don't like social media, so if you give me all the details, I can run that for you,” Layla says.

"She always tells me that she's very lucky that she's met me because she wouldn't have survived this long... to me, I'm like, 'Oh, it's not really much.' I just log onto my phone every night for about half an hour and rather than scrolling mindless reels, I just sit there and do research for work."

Where do they connect?

Beyond the day-to-day logistics, the two find common ground in a shared ethos of sustainability and empathy.

“We both love working with kids... I just believe in kindness and being a decent human and I think she believes the same things,” Simone says.

"She's very into environmental issues... she lives in the way that I also live, like she tries to make a small impact on the earth”.

Layla says Simone is a "really soft, likeable, approachable person".

"Her level of calmness and understanding of children and people with her counselling background is really great," says Layla.

The admiration is mutual, and Simone says that Layla’s transition from a participant to a workplace partner was seamless because of her natural affinity for the work.

"She's just really good at everything she does and she puts a lot of effort into everything,” Simone says. "She's passionate about working with the kids, she's really easygoing... there's not anything I don't like about her."

This shared vision has turned a job into a community that serves their lives at home. Layla’s children have grown up within the program, playing alongside a diverse group of kids including those accessing NDIS-funded therapeutic support or specialised counselling.

"My kids benefit from it too because they get to go to this awesome place every day and make friends with kids that they probably wouldn't otherwise really cross paths with,” Layla says.

"Many of the kids are on the spectrum or in counselling and my boys don't even know that they're different, which I think is really awesome.

“They're learning a better acceptance of people and a better understanding of life.”

This sense of belonging keeps the partnership thriving, even as Layla navigates maternity leave. Despite being officially off the clock, the pull of the "bush magic" environment often brings her back to the farm.

"She’s on maternity leave at the moment but then she sent me a message saying, 'Oh, I'll set up the mud kitchen table and all the potions.' I was like, 'You know you're on maternity leave, you don't have to do this.' She's like, 'No, but I want to play, I want to have fun’,” Simone says.

“She's just an awesome human and I feel really lucky to know her and definitely to have her on my team”.

“Simone is probably the best person I've ever worked for and this is definitely the best job I've ever had,” says Layla.

For more information about Bush Magic Adventure Therapy, go to www.bushmagictherapy.com.au or contact Simone at hello@bushmagictherapy.com.au or 0428 909 895