A Place to Grow: The Promise and Challenges of Recovery-Oriented Therapeutic Farms

A study explores how therapeutic farms in the US and Ireland use recovery-oriented practices to center humanity, community, and autonomy in mental healthcare.

The study published in the Irish Journal of Psychological Medicine examines how therapeutic farms can serve as recovery-oriented alternatives to traditional mental health programs. Led by Christina Koretsidou of University College Dublin, the study identifies key principles that drive these programs, including common humanity, community life, and freedom of choice. The research also highlights challenges, such as navigating professional boundaries and integrating “best practices” with recovery-oriented care.

Recovery-oriented models—like those practiced at Kyrie Therapeutic Farm (KTF) in Ireland—offer an alternative to the dominant biomedical approach, which focuses on diagnosis and symptom management. Instead, these programs emphasize creating a supportive environment where service users are centered in their own care. The authors write:

“The findings show that the participating therapeutic farms were committed to adopting principles, values, and practices that align with recovery-oriented approaches, as evidenced by their commitment to principles such as egalitarian relationships, self-determination, purposeful activity, community participation, and placing the person (rather than the mental health difficulty) at the centre of the recovery process.”

“The shared vision, teamwork, and dialogue evidenced in the findings were clearly key facilitators of service delivery, enabling farms to continuously improve processes and practices and respond adaptively to change.”

Although there is policy support across the globe for recovery-oriented models of mental health that address social and environmental factors, the biomedical model’s emphasis on diagnosis and symptom management still dominates the field.

Recovery-oriented models practiced in programs such as Kyrie Therapeutic Farms (KTF), Soteria Houses, Open Dialogue, and Crisis Houses provide compelling evidence that recovery-oriented mental health treatment can move the field beyond symptom management by centering service users in their own treatment and providing a healing and supportive environment.