Social Farming

In recent years evidence has emerged showing how beneficial spending time outdoors can be for physical and mental health by reducing stress and anxiety and increasing physical activity. As a result, more and more NHS trusts and charity organisations include therapeutic activities involving nature in their programmes. Gardening and forest bathing may be the most famous ones that come to mind. Another great example, that particularly aligns with the core concepts of occupational therapy, is social farming. Through participation in ordinary farming activities individuals experience social connection, meaningful activity, and the restorative power of nature. Social farming can be adapted for a range of client groups according to their individual goals and abilities. It is also very compatible with occupational therapy because the activities promote mental wellbeing and

increase physical activity at the same time. I would like to share a little about a farming project that I got to know more about on my role-emerging placement in university. Jubilee Community Benefit Society (JCBS), based in Northern Ireland, contributes to the wellbeing of the local community by involving various groups of people and bringing them closer to nature and local produce. People of all ages are welcome to attend weekly volunteering days to participate in tasks on the farm. This may involve weeding vegetable beds, changing goat bedding or cutting hedges. Volunteers return regularly because of feeling useful, refreshed, and energised after helping. A group of asylum seekers from various backgrounds also regularly visit the farm during those volunteering days. These visits are a great opportunity to improve language skills, integration, and collaboration. Additionally, JCBS involve a group of adults with learning disabilities from a local NHS adult care centre in their everyday farming activities. The individuals enjoy attending farming sessions, especially looking after the animals. Their carers report back that the visits at JCBS improve physical activity and social interaction of the attendees. Vegetables grown and meat produced from the farm are sold to the local community, which helps to improve nutrition and the farm-to-fork relationship. While JCBS has created many different avenues to benefit the mental and physical wellbeing of their local community, they also provide placement opportunities for occupational therapy students on their role emerging placement. The students get a unique opportunity to develop several clinical skills and at the same time, the JCBS staff learn about the role of occupational therapy, and they receive thought-provoking suggestions. For example, during my time at JCBS, accessibility to certain areas of the farm was improved by using the “Adaptations toolkit NI”, a document which streamlines the terminology of housing adaptations for people and contractors.

Additionally, I put together content for a workshop to evaluate the social farming sessions and how those can be adapted to meet the needs of every individual. Recommendations included: creating a start and end activity with the group, a routine, adaptation of tools and other equipment, as well as adapting the pacing of activities where necessary. We also discussed how to best communicate new and important information and instructions, for example, by using simple sentences or picture flash cards where possible. It was a great collaboration, bringing together research, occupational therapy values and the experience and opinions of the JCBS staff. Another student was able to create and conduct a survey with the attendees of the social farming sessions, their carers, and adult centre staff to assess how the farming sessions impact the service users in their everyday life. She concluded that all individuals enjoyed attending the farming sessions and that these increased their levels of physical activity and verbal interaction with carers and family. The student was also able to put together a report for the NHS adult centre, describing her findings and highlighting the positive outcome. Working with such a unique organisation has highlighted the adaptability of occupational therapy. Its ideas and concepts can be translated to a variety of contexts and activities outside the ordinary OT setting. At the same time, working at the JCBS farm and spending time outdoors highlighted the importance of looking after the health and wellbeing of the environment and the need for finding sustainable ways to deliver OT services. JCBS staff welcomed the input and recommendations made by OT students on their placement and gave an idea of how their work can diversify and add to the multiple ways of how they benefit their local community and beyond. For more information please visit Jubilee.coop, or email JohannaRohde@mail.co.uk.