Located minutes outside Sedona, Arizona, the Selah Carefarm is a collective of restorative spaces within a eco-based, therapeutic community where grieving individuals, families, and groups can go to give and receive connection and compassion. All of the animals (usually around 50 including horses, pigs, cows, alpacas, cats, dogs, goats, donkeys, sheep…) on the carefarm have been rescued from abuse, neglect, homelessness, and torture. Our grieving families know what it means to suffer, and so do these animals. In addition, clients can choose to participate in group where we offer mediation or yoga, art therapy, bibliotherapy, traumatic grief counseling, and residential facilities all at beautiful Andy’s Sanctuary. We base our work on ahimsa- or henosis- compassion for all, including animals and the earth. Thus, we are vegan and sustainable. We have a “rescue don’t reproduce” policy here so we can help as many animals as possible. Visit our Facebook page to “Like” and learn about what we do and who we help! If you’d like to schedule a therapeutic visit or counseling at Selah Carefarm, please do so here. Read some of our research visit here.

Please support our efforts! The humans and animals at the Selah Carefarm are so very grateful for your help. We need donations to maintain Andy’s Sanctuary and the Selah Carefarm. Donations go towards supplies, materials, farmwork, animal care, land maintenance, animal food, counseling services, scholarships, and more.  If you would like to support our efforts, we have many options that will help tremendously, including a scholarship fund that helps raise money for grieving people seeking services who are in serious financial need. We also have a way to support our rescue animals directly through symbolic adoptions. Please contact MISS Foundation Executive Director Kelli Montgomery at kelli.montgomery@missfoundation.org if you have any questions or ideas about how you can help. Thank you so very, very much.

Once upon a time, traumatically bereaved people would come from around the world to work with Dr. Cacciatore or one of our other counselors. But our facilities could only hold one to two families at a time. Thus, grieving individuals and families in the local area and also from around the world would have to wait until space opened before they could come for help. That meant a 6-9 month waiting period or longer. Now, we are able to serve more grieving people, especially those in acute crisis. Please visit us here if you’d like to reserve a room at Andy’s Sanctuary at the Selah Carefarm and/or schedule individual counseling or a group program at the Selah Carefarm.

If you’ve experienced the death of a child at any age or from any cause, or the catastrophic death of a sibling, grandchild, parent, partner, or other much-beloved one, then you are likely eligible for this program. Grieving people come from all over the world (Cambodia, Canada, Mexico, Vietnam, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, Brazil, Ghana, Liberia, Croatia, Romania, Dominican Republic, Egypt, Israel, Japan, China, Argentina, India, Jordan, and more – and of course from all over the U.S.) to spend time in this therapeutic community. Please contact us here if you’d like to reserve a room at Andy’s Sanctuary.

Please note: the carefarm is a vegan therapeutic community and is not open to the public. You must have a scheduled appointment, or be housed in one of our rooms, to be here at the carefarm. Because of open waterways that cannot be fenced, no children under the age of 7, please.  We have large guardian dogs who protect our flock from night predators. For the safety of your own pets, please leave your animals at home or at your hotel. Because of our focus on deep compassion for all, non-vegan food items are strictly prohibited.

Yes! Carefarming, as a whole and in its individual components, has been shown to help many vulnerable population groups. Many countries in Europe utilize care farming as a humanistic approach to human suffering in vulnerable groups with profoundly positive outcomes that reduce harm and help people improve coping. And, carefarming costs a fraction of treatment as usual. The average basic cost (not inclusive of individual counseling services) of most carefarms is between $60-$150 a day. The average basic cost of treatment as usual in an inpatient setting is between $1500- $2500 a day, or more in some locations. Learn more about the scholarly literature here.

We also offer a one-week training on our model for those interested in helping us expand our model to other locations. Find out more here.

If you are a provider interested in learning more about our Compassionate Bereavement Care Provider Certification (30 CEUs), please visit this link to see upcoming training dates.

The Selah Carefarm and Family House  is named after the Hebrew word selah and after the Selah Grief Model (Cacciatore, 2011), a mindfulness-based framework that recognizes two foci: self and other, the intrapersonal and the interpersonal, in addition to the space between two beings. Selahderives from the Hebrew word celah, often noted in the book of Psalms meaning something like a 1) pause to stay with what you’ve just experienced; 2) reflect, feel deeply what you’ve just experienced. And, when ready, we hold space as we 3) discover meaning, allowing it to unfold in its time without rushing to the next passage. 

May they be with us eternally.

Dr. Cacciatore may be at the Selah Carefarm at various times. However, she’s a full-time professor with ASU and is often in research meetings, analyzing data, grading papers, meeting with students, or taking some too- rare ‘down time’ when she can find it, and the few clients she sees are booked well in advance. She’s also regularly out of town for speaking engagements. If you do see her, feel free to say hello or wave! Our counselors and staff are highly trained  and follow Dr. Cacciatore’s model. We are confident you will find the compassionate support you need from our staff and counselors during your stay. Although Dr. Cacciatore would love to visit with each attendee and honor your loved one with an open heart, please understand that she may not be available during your stay due to her ongoing commitments throughout the year. Thank you so much for understanding.