The Development of the Therapeutic Farm

Abstract

The underlying approach to and development of the therapeutic farm community has been decidedly different in large degree between the United States and Canada, on the one hand, and Western European countries on the other. Initially premised on a “moral treatment” approach to the treatment of mental illness, most, if not all, of the currently functioning therapeutic farms in the United States and Canada continue to operate from this perspective. In contrast, therapeutic farms in Western European and Scandinavian countries, such as Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, and the United Kingdom, have variously been developed specifically as an intervention for individuals with severe mental illness (or others with varying mental or physical health needs) or as an alternative mechanism for the utilization of farms, with the provision of a therapeutic experience as a secondary goal. This chapter traces the development of the therapeutic farm community in both Europe and the United States from its origin as an asylum, meaning a place of refuge, to its current day forms.