The Therapeutic Farm Community: An Innovative Intervention for Mental Illness

Abstract

Romania is currently making efforts to deinstitutionalize residents of its mental health hospitals and initiate a system of community-based mental health care. To be successful, the system of community-based mental health care must include a network of caring and responsible people who are committed to helping those who are mentally ill meet their needs while reintegrating into and remaining a part of the community. Therapeutic farm communities (TFC), or care farms (CF) as they are known in Europe, can serve as a critical component in efforts to assist mentally ill individuals regain their stability and independence. TFCs, which often focus on individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and major depression, promote self-sufficiency through their therapeutic use of farming-related activities, including organic farming and animal care. In addition to farm maintenance activities, programming may include mood management, dialectical behavior therapy, creative expression, equine assisted learning, meditation, education, money management training, and independent living skills activities (planning, shopping, cooking, healthy living), and medication management. This paper first reviews the use of TFCs in Europe and the US, focusing on Hopewell as a model for the US TFCs, and examines the suitability and sustainability of the TFC/CF model for mentally ill persons in Romania in the context of Romania's current political and economic climate.