Green Care: A Conceptual Framework - Frisk i naturen

otas, on the grounds that they are “coercive”. Group theory takes a starkly
and radically different view to this. Foulkes explains how the primary
social experience of people is one’s place amongst others, rather than as an
isolated individual:
Practice
“Each individual – itself an artificial, though plausible
abstraction – is centrally and basically determined, inevitably
by the world in which he lives, by the community, the group
of which he forms a part. The old juxtaposition of inside and
outside world, constitution and environment, individual and
society, fantasy and reality, body and mind and so on, are
untenable. They can at no stage be separated from each other,
except by artificial isolation.” (Foulkes, 1964)
Therapeutic communities are not mainstream. They are a minority interest
in mental health; only serving a small proportion of the prison population;
very few schools are run therapeutically; and most addiction treatment is
using a harm reduction model. It is probably true that ‘small is beautiful’ in
therapeutic communities, in that each needs to grow and develop ‘in its own
soil’, so that it can be duly owned and nurtured by those who know it best.
Programmes in therapeutic communities frequently work to the seasons; a
typical length of stay in a British National Health Service facility would be
eighteen months: the first three months of this is a ‘settling-in’ period, and
the last three months as ‘getting ready to leave’. This allows for the passage
of the seasons in a period of maturation.
As well as being beholden to the rhythm and cycle of the seasons, other
commonly used horticultural and agricultural concepts are relevant.
■ ■ Pruning needs to be undertaken in order to cut back unhealthy or
outdated coping mechanisms and keep the work within safe boundaries.
■■
Sometimes work in a therapeutic community becomes arid and dry and
needs irrigation. The psychological equivalent of this is having a range
of different activities within the treatment programme.
■■ Also, little growth is possible without suitable nourishment, and
this “fertiliser” can either be found in developing relationships
58 Green Care: A Conceptual Framework