A Therapeutic Community

Phone: 250.746.4204

Email: provfam@providence.bc.ca

Providence Farm is a therapeutic community that provides horticulturally based programs for people who are encountering barriers to education and employment. The Sisters of St. Ann own the beautiful 400-acre property that lies at the base of Mount Tzouhalem in the Cowichan Valley of Vancouver Island. Jack Hutton and Sister Frieda Raab began work on developing this therapeutic community in the 70’s and in 1979 they established a non-profit society: the Vancouver Island Providence Community Association. The society leased the farm from the Sisters of St. Ann, and beginning with programming just one day a week, have continued to develop innovative programs for the community that now support a full time, all seasons, producing farm. In 1983, the Providence Farm Community Association created the following Mission Statement: “Our focus is toward those not easily accepted elsewhere. Trusting in Providence, we propose to create a faith centered community that sees in the cycle of people caring for the soil and the soil nurturing the people – the Renewal of Life.”

Today there are 14 full-time and part-time staff and over 120 participants involved in running the farm that consists of a five acre market garden, two acres of orchard, a three thousand square foot wheelchair accessible greenhouse where annuals, perennials, and herbs are grown for public sales, and seventy acres of active field crops. Additionally, there are approximately ninety plots developed by community groups and individuals in the Community Allotment Gardens. By providing organic garden space to the community, the farm hopes to motivate people from the community to interact with each other and with program participants.

Adults from the Cowichan Valley who are coping with mental health issues, developmental disabilities and head injuries are a large part of the community at the farm. Participants have the opportunity to be in involved in all aspects of growing – from planning, to seeding, transplanting, weeding, harvesting, and making soup with the produce! In the gardens, people with varying abilities grow the vegetables, herbs, and flowers which are sold in the on-site General Store, as well as at a weekly Market Garden in season. Growth is not limited to the plants; people grow in confidence and experience, their self esteem and self worth grow, and they blossom. Group activities promote socialization and allow participants to work together for a common goal. Energy and anxiety can be released through digging, hoeing and pruning.

As the healing power of the gardens became more and more evident, Jack Hutton looked for ways to more formally embrace this relationship and in 1989, Horticultural Therapist Christine Pollard arrived on the scene. The Farm proved to be the perfect environment for Christine to develop her practice. “Our connection with the ground is an inherent part of who we are. A garden is the foundation from which the other parts of our life can emanate. It provides us with physical, emotional, cognitive, nutritional and spiritual well-being."

If you have marveled at the perfection of a flower or felt excited and renewed with the first emerging buds of spring, then you have experienced the founding principles which give rise to the profession of Horticulture Therapy. It is not only an emerging profession, it is a time proven practice; the therapeutic benefits of the use of plants and nature work to improve social, spiritual, physical and emotional well being of individuals has been understood since ancient times. Providence Farm offers a Horticultural Therapy certificate program, recognized by the Canadian Horticultural Therapy Association (CHTA).

With Christine’s help, Jack started yet another innovative program at Providence. St. Anne’s Garden was created in 1995 to provide a safe, enjoyable environment for seniors with mental health issues to recapture memories, stimulate the senses and re-activate old skills. The area comprises a nature garden for quiet viewing, a figure-eight sidewalk within the community garden, and a section of wheelchair accessible raised garden beds for active involvement. The atmosphere at the Garden Club is warm and friendly – the seniors bright-eyed with enthusiasm for the day in the garden.

Providence Farm also houses and is partnered with several other community and therapeutic organizations.

- The Cowichan Valley Alternate School operates on the farm, and has a long standing cooperative working relationship with the farm itself. For students who experience difficulty coping with other school structures, this program assists, encourages and supports them in taking responsibility for their decisions and actions, developing a positive self-concept and experiencing success.

- The stables and covered riding arena is home to one of the largest therapeutic riding centres in British Columbia. Developed jointly by the Vancouver Island Providence Community Association and the Cowichan Therapeutic Riding Association, the therapeutic riding program is operated by the latter. Riding offers an assortment of skills and confidence building opportunities, including balance, independent mobility, gross and fine motor coordination, and communication.

- The Open Door Friday Farm Program brings an additional 35 to 50 volunteers each week to help with everything from barn cleaning to farm maintenance, baking, kitchen and janitorial work. At lunchtime, the whole farm gets together for a hot meal – a real community event! This program, whose purpose is to encourage physical activity and mental stimulation of people recovering from mental illness, began in 1980. It has been in operation each Friday from 9:30 AM to 2:30 PM ever since.

- The Vancouver Island Good Food Box Collective is a community-based food purchasing program that assists people in accessing safe nutritious produce on a regular basis. Participants order and pay for their boxes in advance, and these funds are then used to purchase fruits and vegetables in bulk. The bulk order is repacked by volunteers into separate food boxes, resulting in a larger share of produce for each individual than they would be able to purchase otherwise.

- The Cowichan Folk Guild is a registered non-profit society (since 1985) with a mandate to preserve and promote folk performing arts in the Cowichan Valley and on Vancouver Island.

In 1971, Jack Hutton moved to Duncan as Director of the Mental Health Centre. This was the period the BC provincial government withdrew funding support for residential care. Many mental health institutions, such as Riverview Hospital, were forced to send their clients home to communities where they were not always welcome. Jack tried to create meaningful day programs for his clients but location was always an issue with complaints and concerns raised by local neighbourhoods. At that time he met Sister Frieda, a member of St. Ann’s order and a social worker, who was trying to establish an alternate school for troubled children and encountering similar resistance in the community. Together they came up with the audacious idea to create their own community at an abandoned farm just outside Duncan that was owned by Sister Frieda’s Order.

The Sisters of St. Ann purchased the 400-acre farm in 1864 on the condition that they would occupy and improve the land. The farm became a boarding school that went through many phases of student focus. It closed up in 1964, but thanks to the efforts of Sister Frieda, it now houses an alternative school for students who experience difficulty coping with other school structures. The students’ work component has contributed to the development of many of the facilities at Providence Farm – most notably, the covered riding ring, the Piggery, and the restoration of the old, turn-of-the-century red barn which is now used as the Craft Barn. The founder of the original school in 1864 was Sister Mary Providence – the namesake of Providence Farm and Community Association.

Jack Hutton and Sister Frieda Raab’s initial idea was to provide a place where everyone was accepted and where everyone could contribute. “You cannot underestimate the importance of meaningful work”, says Jack. “Everyone needs to feel they are able to contribute to the community. So we started by bringing our clients out here to help clear the land and get the farm productive once more. Over time we got grants and produced revenue so we could pay them for their work.” The first program was Greenways, a therapeutic work program for people with a history of psychiatric problems.

What neither Jack nor Sister Frieda had fully anticipated was the healing power of both the land itself and the kind of work they were offering. Craig Evans, Landscape and Garden Coordinator for Providence Farm, is eloquent about the power of gardens to heal and give peace to troubled minds. As the participants work in the soil amongst the living plants, Craig believes “you can almost see the strength and power of healing nature flowing up through their fingers and into their whole bodies”.

Jack and Sister Frieda’s idea was a dream that kept on growing. From 1980 to 1983 Sister Frieda, Sister Doreen Troutman and Sister Ann Thompson, lived at the farm and contributed to the development of a community of people working towards the rebuilding of the farm. In 1985 Jack left his job as the Mental Health Centre Director to work full-time as a Resource Development Specialist running Providence Farm. Most people point to Jack Hutton as the main person responsible for making Providence Farm what it is today. “We call him Mr. Providence, and he deserves it”, says Sister Frieda. “He embodies the spirit of the place.”

Both of them are now officially retired but Sister Frieda gets up to the farm as often as she can, and Jack still volunteers at the Open Door Program on Fridays. “I’ve been working with Providence Farm for over 27 years now. I have always tried to be guided by the principles of honesty, integrity and hard work. Mix that with some basic kindness and a sense of humour and life is worth living!”

Jack reflects that he never really wanted to be a gardener: “I put together what I believed were the most important elements for my clients – the chance to work productively in a supportive and accepting community and to be valued – to be paid – for that work. I discovered that I had lucked into the best possible environment – a place of beauty, serenity and intimate contact with the healing force of nature.”

“The Farm has surpassed our wildest dreams”, says Sister Frieda, “and I just go weak at the knees thinking of everything it has grown to be!”

Date: 2006