Next week on Home and Away in the UK, Colby is forced to be cruel to be kind as he takes Bella for intensive treatment…

After the shocking events of last week which saw Bella Nixon (Courtney Miller) self-harm, after she attempted to take the next step in her blossoming relationship with Nikau Parata (Kawakawa Fox-Reo), the time has now come for Bella to be admitted for full time therapy.

The teen had been seeing a counsellor earlier this year, after she purposely overdosed on stolen medication in order to make herself ill for Colby’s (Tim Franklin) attention. However she refused to open up, in the fear that she would reveal the dark secret that has been placed upon her—that Colby killed his stepfather, Ross Nixon.

Bella knows that most of her issues stem from her sheltered upbringing, and the subsequent horror of finding out that not only was her ‘officially missing’ father dead—shot dead by her own brother—but that Ross had also been responsible for the death of Bella and Colby’s mother Michelle.

Bella’s father Ross (Justin Rosniak) was shot dead by Colby in the opening week of 2019

The subject of Ross was one that was quickly latched onto by counsellor Patricia, so Bella chose not to cooperate and later skipped sessions to prevent accidentally implicating Colby’s in Ross’ death.

With Tori now recommending that Bella be placed in full-time intensive psychiatric care following her self-abuse, the choice of refusing therapy has now been taking out of Bella’s hands.

When Colby brings Bella home to collect her things this week, the first person she runs into is Nikau who is working outside the bait shop. Nik is feeling a huge amount of guilt in the aftermath of Bella’s hospitalisation, and it’s not helped by Ryder who continues to blame Nik for not taking things steady with Bella.

Bella runs upstairs to avoid him as Colby explains to Nik that Bella is going to receive the help she needs.

As Ryder nips upstairs to bid Bella farewell, she confirms to him that Nik did nothing wrong, and makes Ryder promise that they’ll talk every day whilst she’s away. As Bella heads down to Colby’s waiting car, she stops so Nik can talk to her. Whilst it’s difficult to find the words to express how he’s feeling, and still unaware of what actually happened, he wishes Bella all the best.

As Colby, Willow (Sarah Roberts) and Bella arrive at Bridge Farm, worker Steve (Cramer Cain) tells her that the farm is an equine therapy centre, and talks to them about the benefits of animal assisted therapy in young people.

Bella is very cynical, given she doesn’t even like horses, but tells him she’s willing to go along with it and pretend it’s going to help fix her problems.

As Bella chooses a horse to work with, Steve tells her that she gets to pick her own name for the horse, one which can help reflect how she’s feeling and her family situation.

Bella christens her horse “Bullet”, which immediately makes Colby uneasy, but she explains that how her life feels at the moment—she has no control and causes pain to those she loves.

Steve explains to Bella what she needs to do in order to make Bullet follow her on command. Bella scoffs but when Steve hands over the reins, she finds the horse won’t budge.

After a short bonding exercise, a light flicks on in Bella and she begins to appreciate the beauty of the beast before her.

As she calmly gives her command, Bullet walks with Bella around the enclosure.

Colby and Willow are pleased to see Bella’s progress, but Steve warns them she has a long road ahead of her. He then tells them that they should think about heading home, Bella needs to do this on her own.

As Bella prepares for her next task, Steve tells her she needs to hand over her phone. In order for the therapy to be successful, she needs to cut off all contact from the outside world to minimise the risk of setbacks.

Bella is disappointed, particularly after promising to keep Ryder updated, and as she hands over the phone she spots a text waiting from Nik.