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outdated coping mechanisms and keep the work within safe boundaries.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