Support Families and Animals at the Healing Garden

Situated part-and-parcel with the Clinic for Yazidi Women the Healing Garden is utilized regularly by therapists and patients of the Clinic for Yazidi Women for individual and group therapy sessions. We are therefore extending this campaign on GlobalGiving to fundraise for both entities together.

Keeping Social Distance

During Covid-19 we’ve had to limit the number of people in the Healing Garden at any one time and still maintain its effectiveness for treatment. Since October, the Healing Garden has hosted an average of 2,000 guests per month including patients from the clinic and various school trips for children.

In January the Healing Garden hosted 129 Internally Displaced People for special programs and training events.

Animal-Assisted Intervention is proving extremely effective.

One of the unique techniques incorporated in the Healing Garden is Animal-Assisted Intervention where clients young and old engage in tending to and playing with the Garden’s variety of animals. Allowing traumatized patients something to care for can provide them with a sense of purpose and security. In recent months this has become the most popular program at the Healing Garden as patients express its close relation to their cultural practices and current condition.

What we need

The Healing Garden requires a lot of upkeep. The sustainable architecture and living materials are in constant need of maintenance and the animals require daily care. Excluding staff salaries, the Healing Garden costs on average $3,500 each month to maintain.

• Therapist / Mental Health Specialist: $600 - $900 per month
• One 60-minute therapy session (individual or group) is about $12
• Animal feed and supplies: $1000
• Veterinary appointments and medication for animals: $450
• Garden maintenance and other staff: $1500

Upcoming projects include:

• Planting 2,000 trees and 1,000 flowers
• Seeding 50 kilos of grass-seed
• Refurbishing mud-brick houses against rain and winter conditions
• Construction of a new veterinary room
• Install Solar-Panels (seeking funding)