Marie, Former Resident
"Being at Hopewell has made it possible for me to appreciate what I have instead of what I didn't have."
Many years ago, in her mid-teens, Marie began what was to be a long nightmare of frequent hospitalizations, changing diagnoses, loss of employment and quickly deteriorating relationships.
In 2004 she was diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder, a mental illness in which the symptoms of mood disorder and schizophrenia are present. A year later, her family, desperate to find help, discovered Hopewell and convinced her to try it.
Like many Hopewell residents, Marie's path toward recovery was not a straight one.
After several months at the farm, she felt like her symptoms were worsening. Hopewell's psychiatrist suggested a different medication protocol and, though Marie initially resisted it because of the potential weight gain (a side effect), she eventually gave it a chance.
Once the medication stabilized her symptoms, Marie...
Emily, Former Resident
When Emily remembers life before Hopewell, it seemed that mental illness was all she knew.
"My mother didn't know what to do; she kept trying to find the right treatement for me to get better."
That place was most certainly not the hospital Emily was in and out of so frequently. "If you're not crazy when you go in the hospital, you will be in you leave," she believes. "For me it was a very demeaning place."
Then Emily's mother heard about Hopewell.
"When I first got there, I didn't like it, but it didn't take long until I had changed my mind," explains Emily. "It took a couple of weeks of being outside, caring for the animals, being with the staff and residents until I started to realize...
Chris Goodall, Associate Clinical Director
Chris Goodall has seen both sides of the treatment coin.
Before coming to Hopewell, Chris was a clinician at a behavioral health hospital, where the path to recovery was a very different one.
In fact, you could say that the word "recovery" wasn't even a possibility for many people confined to the hospital.
"The focus there was on making sure people were not going to harm themselves or others and then sending them back into the community - often onto the street," explains Chris. "They would return a few days, or sometimes hours later, and the cycle would go on and on with no real ability to assist the person in improving their life. "
That is a very different approach than Hopewell's.
"At Hopewell I help people work through the recovery process...
