Lydia Cohen | Arts Program Designer, Founder of Girls on Country & TEDx Speaker
Lydia Cohen is a Perth-based arts program designer, TEDx speaker, and founder of Girls on Country, a transformational arts and leadership program for First Nations young women aged 12–25 across Australia.
She works nationally with organisations, schools, councils, and communities to deliver culturally safe, trauma-informed creative programs focused on emotional wellbeing, identity development, and leadership.
Founder of Girls on Country
Lydia Cohen is the founder of Girls on Country, a transformational arts and leadership program created specifically for First Nations young women aged 12–25.
The program combines art-making, cultural connection, emotional wellbeing, and self-expression to create safe spaces for young people to explore identity, confidence, resilience, and leadership.
Since 2016, Lydia Cohen has worked with First Nations youth organisations and art centres across Central Australia, identifying a significant gap in culturally responsive emotional wellbeing and trauma support for young people. This experience led to the development of an arts-based methodology that supports emotional expression, healing, and personal growth through creative practice.
TEDx Speaker Lydia Cohen
Lydia Cohen is a TEDx speaker who explores how art can be used as a powerful tool for emotional regulation, identity formation, and trauma processing.
Art has been central to Lydia Cohen’s life and practice. Growing up with an absent father from a different country, culture, and religion, she used creative expression to process emotional complexity, explore identity, and make sense of her lived experience.
This lived experience now informs her work as the founder of Girls on Country, where she uses trauma-informed, culturally responsive arts practice to support First Nations young women in emotional expression, storytelling, and identity development.
Through this work, Lydia Cohen supports young people to build emotional awareness, confidence, and self-determination through creative practice.
Education & Professional Training
Lydia Cohen holds a Master of Fine Arts from Goldsmiths, University of London, and a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) in Fine Art from the University of the Arts London.
She is also trained in:
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100 Hour Certificate in Yoga, Trauma and the Energy Body
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Indigenous Mental Health frameworks
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Complex Racial Trauma
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Attachment Theory
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Suicide Prevention
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Clinical & Cultural Accreditation
Lydia Cohen is accredited in:
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Dr. Tracy Westerman Aboriginal Symptom Checklist (Youth and Adult) (WASC-Y / WASC-A)
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Acculturation Scale for Aboriginal Australians (Westerman)
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Acculturative Stress Scale for Aboriginal Australians (Westerman)
These frameworks inform the trauma-aware, culturally responsive approach used within Girls on Country to support measurable wellbeing outcomes.
Artistic Career
After completing her Master of Fine Arts in London, Lydia Cohen worked as a professional artist, exhibiting internationally and being featured in publications including The Guardian, Wonderland Magazine, and Hysteria Magazine.
Her work was shortlisted for the Catlin Art Prize and the University of the Arts London Future Map Award. She later received the KALA Art Institute Fellowship Award in Berkeley, California.
Practice Based in Australia
Based in Perth, Western Australia, Lydia Cohen continues to develop and deliver Girls on Country nationally, working with First Nations communities to support arts-based emotional wellbeing, identity development, leadership pathways, and economic pathways for young women.
GOALS
Program Outcomes
The Girls on Country program supports First Nations young women to:
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Reconcile emotional conflict
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Build self-empowerment and agency
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Strengthen emotional regulation
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Increase self-esteem and self-awareness
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Develop resilience
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Support post-traumatic growth
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Process loss and grief
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Improve mental and physical wellbeing
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Manage anxiety, stress, and emotional pain
Three-Step Process
Step 1: Connection to Community (Mob)
Reconnecting identity, culture, and belonging.
Step 2: Safe Creative Space
Creating a culturally safe environment for art-making and expression.
Step 3: Storytelling Through Art
Facilitated reflection, dialogue, and creative expression to process lived experience.
Benefits of Art in Nature-Based Practice
Art-making in nature supports emotional regulation and wellbeing through:
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Reduced stress and nervous system calming
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Increased mindfulness and grounding
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Strengthened mind–body connection
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Enhanced flow states and focus