• Mind/Body: Stretching, light yoga, meditation, breathing exercises, and discussions on holistic wellness. Hosted in our garden, residents learn how to practice mindfulness and meditation in order to best support anxiety, chronic stress and trauma.

• Art in Nature: Using the natural world as a facilitator of creativity and mindfulness, participants learn how to use art as a way to express, and resolve their emotions and thoughts. Participant art is featured throughout the Bell Farm.

• Nutrition: In alignment with the National Strategy on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health, our nutrition pillar is based on “Food as Medicine” with the goals of “prioritizing the role of nutrition and food security in overall health” and empower participants to have make and informed, healthy choices.

• Community: Provide a safe, healing, and welcoming green space, as well as both informal and formal programming to facilitate opportunities to engage with the farm and natural world.

Our Food for Life participants come to us through The Salvation Army’s Bell Shelter, and many are enrolled in the Wellness Center, a Medi-Cal residential treatment center for addiction recovery and various mental health conditions, including PTSD.  

Mindfulness-based ecotherapy has been shown to reduce stress and anxiety, lower blood pressure, promote better sleep, improve mental clarity and lower one's risk of depression. 

The sessions are led by qualified and experienced practitioners in their respective fields.