A New Healing Community Takes Root: Eli’s Place Nears Opening in Canada

Farm implement sculptures on the campus of the Ignatius Jesuit Centre in Guelph, Ontario.

Since the founding of Gould Farm in 1913, many groups have drawn on our model to establish similar programs in their own regions or countries. These include Kyrie Farm in Ireland, Rose Hill Center in Michigan, Hopewell Therapeutic Farm in Ohio and CooperRiis in North Carolina, to name just a few. If you’d like to read more about these connections, check out our 2022 blog post, Hospitality as activism.

Members of the farm team at Gould Farm walking back from the cow pastures.

Most recently, a group in Ontario, Canada, is preparing to open Eli’s Place, a farm-based residential treatment program for young adults struggling with mental illness. It will be the first program of its kind in Canada. Co-founders David and Deborah Cooper were inspired to create Eli’s Place in memory of their son, Eli, whom they lost to suicide. They have come to visit us at the Farm to gather information and ideas and we have joined them for several Zoom calls over the years to share our materials and resources. And we will continue to keep the door open to them for regular staff exchanges for mutual learning.  Collaborating with and supporting our sister farm-based programs is a part of what makes us each successful; we are all continually adapting to meet the challenges of offering high-quality care in a fraught mental health treatment landscape.

The Eli’s Place project has recently reached an important stage, marked by two major developments. First, they are well on their way to securing a suitable location. According to a recent announcement, they are in talks with the Ignatius Jesuit Centre in Guelph, Ontario, with plans to use their long-time retreat center, Loyola House, for the therapeutic program.

Second, Eli’s Place has launched a search for an executive director and has received remarkable interest from a large number of well-qualified applicants. With an executive director in place the hope is the organization will move quickly towards welcoming its first guests by the end of 2026.

We are thrilled for them and wish them success as they launch Eli's Place!