Addicts find hands in the earth help journey to recovery - 'It grounds us'

A rural addiction rehabilitation facility near Christchurch runs a farm-focused social enterprise that connects its residents with planting, growing and sharing.Planting chillies, catching a whiff of a sheep's fleece and training cucumber plants are helping people working on a special farm near Christchurch deal with some pretty tough life crises.One of them is Shannon, a mother of four from Tauranga, who was addicted to meth, alcohol and cannabis before arriving at Nova Trust's rehab centre on a 30-hectare property at Templeton.The centre runs programmes for about 120 people a year based around a native nursery, tunnel houses for growing vegetables and social enterprise.When Country Life visits, Shannon is planting baby cucumbers which, when fully grown, will head to supermarket shelves. "Putting our magic in," she laughs. "I love working with plants ... coming in, I had lost contact with how much I really love it. And it's a real joy to watch something grow. It's kind of like self-growth. You know, you get to learn to start from seed again and regrow. It's beautiful." Listen to more about Nova Trust's on-farm rehab programmeShannon chose Nova Trust's rehab programme specifically because it involved horticulture."This is actually the only rehab centre that offers you to put your hand in the dirt and get in touch with the whenua."It grounds us."The charity was established in 1981, and founded by a local builder and businessman, Don Malcolm, with some colleagues from Christchurch.Chief executive Steve Rossell said it aimed to create pathways and a better life and recovery for thoseaffected by alcohol and drug addiction and other life challenges. The centre is funded by Te Whatu Ora and a small number of donors, alongside revenue received from social enterprises, farm produce and the native tree nursery.Those operations are integral to the trust's rehabilitation work with its residents, Rossell said."They provide life and employment skills, opportunities for the development of skills around general life and living, whether that's cooking and cleaning, looking after yourself, but also, that experience of the workaday routines that fitthem very well for reintegrating back into the community post-treatment." Produce from Nova Trust's tunnel houses and paddocks make it to supermarkets and My Food Bag deliveries via their own truck, commercial manager Boyd Warren explained…Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details