Well, if you live in Europe, this
might be a reality for you. Norway, the Netherlands, Italy, Germany, Austria, Belgium,
Slovenia, and the United Kingdom have recently begun to include ‘green
care farms’ in their mental and social health
programs.
How does it work?
A doctor or psychiatrist can refer
a patient to work on a ‘care farm’ for a continuous period or as a weekly
activity. In some countries, social workers or occupational therapists may also
suggest that their clients seek out work on a care farm. Farmers are paid for
providing this service and also benefit from the added workers.
Who gets a prescription?
At one time, the focus of green
care programs was on people struggling with psychiatric difficulties and those
with intellectual disabilities. However, green care has since grown to include
people suffering from addictions, burnout, and chronic unemployment, as well as
the elderly and young children. And in some countries, it’s growing by
leaps and bounds. For example, in the Netherlands, the
number of green care farms recently rose more than a thousand-fold, from 75
care farms in 1998 to more than 800 in 2008.
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What are the benefits?
Participants in these programs are
reporting great benefits, and many have expressed the importance of being involved in the entire
lifecycle of plants - from seeds to harvest. Working with nature becomes a
metaphor for their own struggles and journeys in life as they notice and
reflect on natural and seasonal cycles of life and death.
The bottom line
While medication sometimes seems to be the easiest route (and in some cases is necessary), getting outside is being proven again and again to be important to human health, and therefore could at least enhance the effects of medication.
Many of the veterans I've talked to who are involved in organic farming are reporting that:
1) working on a farm complements their prescribed medications and/or therapy, or
2) they don't need medication because working in the garden or on the farm is very effective in managing their symptoms related to post-traumatic distress, and
3) they've known other veterans who were able to come off their anti-anxiety meds and sleep aids after working on a farm for a while
We need to start pushing our medical professionals to become aware of this research, and to start looking at alternative avenues to supporting our health and well-being!
References
Di Iacovo, Francesco, and O’Connor, Deirdre (Eds).
(2009). Supporting policies for social
farming in Europe: Progressing multifunctionality in responsive rural areas.
Press Service srl, Sesto Fiorentino (FI). Retrieved from http://sofar.unipi.it/index_file/arsia_So.Far-EU_def.pdf
Elings, Marjolein and Hassink, Jan. (2008). Green care
farms, a safe community between illness or addiction and the wider society. Therapeutic Communities, 29(3), 310-322.
Hickey, Brendan. (2008). Lothlorien Community: A
holistic approach to recovery from mental health problems. Therapeutic Communities, 29(3),
261-272.
Hine, Rachel, Peacock, Jo, and Pretty, Jules. (2008).
Care farming in the UK: Contexts, benefits and links with therapeutic
communities. International Journal of
Therapeutic Communities, 29(3), 245-260.
Mind (2007a). Ecotherapy:
The green agenda for mental health
(executive summary). Retrieved from
http://www.mind.org.uk/assets/0000/2139/ecotherapy_executivesummary.pdf
Mind (2007b). Ecotherapy:
The green agenda for mental health. Retrieved from http://www.mind.org.uk/assets/0000/2138/ecotherapy_report.pdf
This is fabulous! Thank you for sharing your insight. People often forget how important nature is to health!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Nadine. I love sharing this research. And as one wise person told me, this research is really only the tip of the iceberg. The more people we have talking about these kinds of experiences, the better we will understand them and understand their importance, both for us as human beings and for the entire planet.
ReplyDeleteI've thought green care would also be good for healing grief. There are also many urban public spaces that could be included in green care.... like school grounds, university campuses and public parks. Have you heard of anything like that?
ReplyDeleteHi Jackie, that's an interesting though and I'm going to look into it further. What immediately comes to mind, though, is that many of the groups/services that work with victims of torture incorporate healing gardens into their programs. I'll try to write a post about that next week.
ReplyDelete