ISEPP's Joanne Cacciatore is helping to pave the way for a new model of care for those traumatized by loss. See her recent review of the literature on carefarming and traumatic grief. 

In a dramatically different approach to traumatic grief than traditional Western treatment (which often focus on diagnosing and medicating people who are deeply grieving) the carefarm approach is simple, safe and focuses on three restorative areas of support:

1. Carefarming which will include offerings such as gardening and therapeutic horticulture, animal therapy, rescue animal caregiving, green recreation, landscape maintenance, and ecotherapy;
2. Contemplative practices which include meditation/centering prayer, mindfulness based support groups, bibliotherapy, grounding, and ritual;
3. Physical well-being which includes yoga and other exercise, massage, physical activity, acupuncture, and psychoeducation around sleep hygiene, healthy eating, stress resilience, and traumatic grief counseling.
4. Carefarming, as a whole and in its individual components, has been shown to help many vulnerable population groups. Many countries in Europe utilize care farming as a humanistic approach to human suffering in vulnerable groups with powerful psychological and social outcomes that reduce harm and help people improve their coping abilities. And, carefarming costs a fraction of treatment as usual. The average day at a carefarm costs between $60-$150. The cost of treatment as usual in an inpatient setting is about $1000- $1100 a day.