"It is like post-traumatic stress disorder, but in a positive sense!": New territories of the self as inner therapeutic landscapes for youth experiencing mental ill-health

Abstract

The manuscript reports on a study conducted on a youth mental health intervention, proposing a novel framework to look at the therapeutic potential of viticultural landscapes. Drawing on care studies applied to agricultural contexts, the work explores how the attention-based practice of manual grape harvest in a specific natural and social environment can produce a "therapeutic landscape of the mind". Through ethnographic research, we investigate how the spatial and social context of the viticultural environment influences the experience of a group of young people with mental-ill health, eventually supporting their process of recovery. Findings describe how the lived experience of caring for the vines while interacting with professional winegrowers in a one-to-one relationship allows participants to explore new territories of the self. It is argued that this powerful experience is not only beneficial as it unfolds, but also at a later time. Its therapeutic potential resides in the fact that the "landscape of the mind" can be recalled by the person, while positive identities associated with it and newly discovered "ways of being" can be re-enacted. The paper furthers the reflection on place-making practices of public health services and the way they can support the identification and cultivation of enabling places, particularly for vulnerable populations (e.g. young people) that can benefit from interventions conducted in non-medical, non-stigmatizing environments. The work is the result of an interdisciplinary collaboration between a psychiatrist (designing and coordinating the intervention) and a sociologist (designing and conducting the ethnographic study).

Keywords: Mental landscape; Recovery; Therapeutic landscape; Vineyard; Youth mental health.