The Selah Carefarm, a program of the MISS Foundation, has rescued more than 40 animals since it opened in 2017. All of the animals at the carefarm are loved and protected and have been rescued from abuse and trauma. The animals have become our best therapists at the carefarm. Having lived through the unimaginable, they sense what our bereaved family members go through each day. The animal-human connection through a shared sense of trauma and loss is powerful. While the carefarm animals provide invaluable support, they are never pushed to do anything they don’t want to do. The Selah Carefarm and family house are strictly vegan out of respect for these precious animals, and all other animals.
The Human-Animal Connection
The MISS Foundation, now in its 25th year, with over 500 active providers and volunteers in nearly every state in the U.S. and 14 countries around the world, has served hundreds of thousands of bereaved families in their darkest hours. We provide counseling, advocacy, research, education, and support (C.A.R.E.S.) to grieving families in their communities. However, much more specialized care is necessary to help these families cope with the overwhelming experience of loss. The Selah House Respite Center and Carefarm, our capstone project, is the first green vegan carefarm in the United States and serves traumatized and bereaved families from all over the world. All our providers who help families at the Selah House receive specialized training in traumatic grief.
Despite the high incidence of traumatic grief in communities around the world, there is no place like this anywhere. Bereaved and traumatized families need a safe place to go in crisis. A place where their grief is honored and held. A place where they are safe to feel, to remember, and to connect to a community. Until now, no such place has existed. We are about to change that.
Our Approach
Selah House, led by MISS Foundation Founder Dr. Joanne Cacciatore, offers a dramatically different approach to traumatic grief than traditional Western treatment facilities which often focus on diagnosing and medicating people who are deeply grieving. Our approach is simple, safe and focuses on three restorative areas of support:
- Carefarming includes offerings such as gardening and therapeutic horticulture, animal therapy, rescue animal caregiving, green recreation, landscape maintenance, and ecotherapy;
- Contemplative practices which include meditation/centering prayer, mindfulness based support groups, bibliotherapy, grounding, and ritual;
- Physical well-being which includes yoga, massage, physical activity, acupuncture, and psychoeducation around sleep hygiene, healthy eating, stress resilience, and traumatic grief counseling.
What We Do
With our evidence-based practice model, we use restorative spaces within a therapeutic and sustainable (green) community to help individuals and families affected by traumatic grief. We have ten lush acres in northern Arizona and see traumatically bereaved men, women, children, and elders from all over the world including Cambodia, Canada, Mexico, Vietnam, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, Brazil, Ghana, Liberia, Croatia, Romania, Dominican Republic, Egypt, Israel, Japan, China, Argentina, India, Jordan, and all around the U.S.
All 40 animals here have been rescued from abuse, homelessness, breeding, and even torture. We are a vegan and substance-free green community of grieving people, scholars and scientists, counselors, and wholehearted volunteers.
Our interns and clinicians are all trained in the ATTEND Model (Cacciatore, 2011), a mindfulness-based bereavement care program. All providers have their own commitment to practicing meditation or contemplative prayer, wakeful living, and to doing their own fully inhabited and deep grief work.
Humans and Animals Communing in Peace
Here are some snapshots of compassion that have taken place at our Carefarm in Sedona, Arizona.
COUNSELING AND PEER SUPPORT
Provider, volunteer and support group network
Our Compassionate Bereavement Care® Providers are located in cities throughout the world. They receive specialized training in traumatic grief and compassionate care. You may find our provider network here. Also, learn more about our wonderful volunteers, and connect with our in-person and virtual support groups.
OUR SERVICES AND WHO WE SERVE
For the grieving, we offer support through educational resources, mentors, forums, retreats, carefarm program, counseling, support groups, kindness walks, retreats and more. We provide key resources for community members, families, supporters and others helping someone experiencing traumatic grief. We offer researchers key insight into grief studies on trauma and loss, carefarming, green therapy, mindfulness and more. We offer providers specialized training and resources to improve their skills working compassionately with traumatized individuals. We provide grassroots advocacy support on important issues affecting our grieving families. We provide a sacred place for grieving individuals to connect with rescue animals who have also experienced the deepest suffering.
