The number of farms in NI offering activities as a form of social support service has increased from 10 to 75 over the past five years, a conference at CAFRE Loughry campus was told last week.
The initiative involves working farms hosting people with learning disabilities and mental health illness as part of their therapy and rehabilitation. Cookstown-based charity Rural Support coordinates the service in NI with grant funding coming from DAERA and various other sources, including the Health and Social Care Board.
“We have secured funding from the TRPSI fund for another year. I am always nervous that we could run out of luck,” Catherine McCallum from DAERA told delegates.
Concerns around the reliability of funding were voiced at the conference with several social farmers pointing out that it is difficult to plan into the future in the absence of long-term funding assurances.
The advice from McCallum was to evaluate and keep records of the progress of scheme participants. “Evidence-based success is critical to securing funding and influencing people that hold the purse strings,” she said.
Saves lives
The benefits of the service were made clear at the event by social farming participant Fiona Garrett. “The fact that I am standing here talking to a room full of people is proof that social farming works,” she told delegates.
Anxiety
Fiona had been suffering from anxiety and post-traumatic stress syndrome for about 10 years before attending a social farm in Plumbridge.
“However you manage it, never stop this scheme, it saves lives,” she said.
Read more
Listen: ‘If I had my way I’d stay on a farm’ – social farming proves a success
Revealed: new Rural Social Scheme places in your county
The number of farms in NI offering activities as a form of social support service has increased from 10 to 75 over the past five years, a conference at CAFRE Loughry campus was told last week.
The initiative involves working farms hosting people with learning disabilities and mental health illness as part of their therapy and rehabilitation. Cookstown-based charity Rural Support coordinates the service in NI with grant funding coming from DAERA and various other sources, including the Health and Social Care Board.
“We have secured funding from the TRPSI fund for another year. I am always nervous that we could run out of luck,” Catherine McCallum from DAERA told delegates.
Concerns around the reliability of funding were voiced at the conference with several social farmers pointing out that it is difficult to plan into the future in the absence of long-term funding assurances.
The advice from McCallum was to evaluate and keep records of the progress of scheme participants. “Evidence-based success is critical to securing funding and influencing people that hold the purse strings,” she said.
Saves lives
The benefits of the service were made clear at the event by social farming participant Fiona Garrett. “The fact that I am standing here talking to a room full of people is proof that social farming works,” she told delegates.
Anxiety
Fiona had been suffering from anxiety and post-traumatic stress syndrome for about 10 years before attending a social farm in Plumbridge.
“However you manage it, never stop this scheme, it saves lives,” she said.
Read more
Listen: ‘If I had my way I’d stay on a farm’ – social farming proves a success
Revealed: new Rural Social Scheme places in your county
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