Care Farms of the Netherlands is a beautiful and inspiring film. It tells the story
of an innovative program that combines agriculture with social care for the mentally
challenged. It began in 1998 with a handful of farms and only a few clients, today there
are more than 1020 farms participating and over 10,000 clients. In an era of government
cutbacks in assistance to our nation’s most venerable citizens this pragmatic program
offers a new and hopeful vision.
”it will inspire us to want to create communities like those in Holland.”
Robert Whitaker, author of Anatomy of an Epidemic
Filmmaker David Heine once more directly challenges the dominant paradigm of
the corporate mental health system in his important documentary, Care Farms
of the Netherlands. This time he provides one answer to the common question,
“But what is the alternative to the psychiatric model of drug, drug, drug,
drug?” The film proves that thousands of troubled people in the Netherlands
have found help through common sense programs on these care farms, in a way
that also helps the families running smaller farms. I love the film’s
coverage of the unique celebration in Geel, Belgium, reminding us of six
centuries of success with a similar approach there. This film shows the
value of ecopsychology and community support for mental and emotional well
being. Don’t we all need to all learn about this, in an era when science has
proven that ‘normal’ is wrecking the planet?
David W. Oaks, Executive Director, MindFreedom International
What a dream it would be to have something like this here in the US. Its implications would have multiple benefits- in a time where the average of farmer’s age is 57, and isolation with illness pervades, it seems that starting projects like this here could spark a renaissance in family & community-settled farms.
I look forward to seeing this film.
A comment on the Documentary Film Care Farm
Increasingly, over the past 50 years, our culture has been saturated with a biological explanation for those difficulties in human living that are described as anxiety, mood disorders and psychosis. We have been assured that the origin of these difficulties is within the brain itself and that, in consequence, the essential part of any treatment needs to target the brain. This means a biological intervention that circumvents the circumstances of the person’s life. The story of the actual efficacy of this approach is beginning to be told in such books as Anatomy of an Epidemic by Robert Whitaker. As he makes clear, the epidemic is not one of success.
A great deal of research and experience can now make a powerful case that elements in life and relationship have real, as opposed to imaginary, efficacy for the afflictions mentioned above. The Documentary Care Farm provides something more powerful than a discussion of the variables that can help people recover their lives – it simply asks the viewer to “look and see.” Care Farm gives a picture that is saturated with meaning. As many people as possible need to watch it so that they can see that meaning in action.
Tony Stanton M.D.
Adult and Child Psychiatry
In Little Brother, BIG PHARMA, David Heine told the story of his brother’s journey through the world of drug-based psychiatry with uncommon grace and sweetness. He brings the same deft story-telling skills to his new documentary, Care Farm. He takes viewers to a farm in Belgium that provides people with a “severe mental illness” a meaningful place in the world. The farm, in the manner of a therapeutic community, gives the people an opportunity to work and to feel proud of their contributions to the farm, and to be with others in a mutually supportive fashion. His film tells of a better way, and in its affectionate portrayal of the people who find relief at the farm, inspires us to want to create more communities like this one in Holland.
Robert Whitaker