Green Care in the USA

Those of you who have been reading my blog over the last few months will be aware that as part of my Churchill Fellowship I will be travelling to Europe to conduct research into Care Farming. Obviously, due to the pandemic I have been unable to travel so I decided to 'virtually' explore care farming further afield. Over the last few months I have explored Australia and Canada and over the last couple of weeks I have been investigating Green Care in the USA.

Although there are some similarities between green care in the USA and Europe they also differ in many ways. In the UK and Europe for example, it is not uncommon for farmers to choose to diversify into care farming in order to bring in an additional income stream. Allowing clients to have access to 'proper', working farms, is seen as an important element in bringing together an authentic outdoor experience, social interaction and being a part of purposeful work.  There are far fewer purpose-built therapeutic farms.

Colleagues in the USA tell me that farmers there are not currently choosing to diversify into green care but for those who are interested in setting up community events during the year tend to favour Agrotourism principles. A simple example might be running a 'Harvest Day', encouraging families to visit the farm, join in with some fun activities, and maybe purchase from farm produce shops at the same time!

However, there are a number of residential therapeutic communities dedicated to helping adults with severe mental health issues such as Hopewell and Gould Farm. They are first and foremost clinical treatment centres, based on farms, that use nature, community, meaningful work and clinical engagement to treat the whole person. These models of treatment have been replicated across the US and have influenced similar projects in Canada, Australia and elsewhere. 

One field, in which the US has been at the forefront for over 70 years, is Animal Assisted Interventions.  Those of you that read my series of three AAI blogs over Christmas and New Year, will already be aware of the amazing work of the New York State based Green Chimneys organisation. This Special Educational Needs School also offers Youth and Family Services, Early Education Programmes and Outdoor Education through their farm and wildlife centre. 

However, commonality does exist between Europe and the US in the establishment of use community growing spaces and gardens, many in urban areas, such as NYC Parks GreenThumb. They offer companionship, opportunities for people to learn new skills, grow and harvest their own fruit and vegetables, spend time in nature, improve local biodiversity and a serve as a place to bring the wider community together.

If you'd like to know more about community growing in the US why not join Green Thumbs online annual conference in February 2021.