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OUR PROGRAM

The Good Life Farm offers a tailored program that contributes to the health and well-being of young people.

Founded on the principles of animal-assisted learning, we enable young people to create bonds with the animals and transfer these skills to their relationships with other people. Importantly, those bonds are based on care, respect and love.

Our life and skills program focuses on interaction, caregiving and connection to not only the animals. It also focuses on the environment, family and community.

All our staff are trained in trauma informed practices.

Life and social skills

3 staff to 6 young people

Structured ten week program

Young people aged 7 to 17

One on one support

One on one support can be provided on request.

This provides the young person with a dedicated staff member and a program that is tailored to individual need.

Contact us directly for more information.

Intensive support

Young people that need additional support may access Dare to Dream Psychology services located at the Good Life Farm.

For more information or to book directly, see the Dare to Dream Facebook page.

Who do we help?

The Good Life Farm offers programs for young people aged 7 to 17 who:

show symptoms of trauma including depression and anxiety

are on the autism spectrum

have attachment, engagement and social connectedness issues

demonstrate antisocial behaviour or drug and alcohol misuse

are experiencing grief or loss

can benefit from an alternative educational setting

need a break from the traditional educational setting.

How to apply

Many of the young people who attend our programs are referred to us by our partner agencies. These agencies may be able to help cover the cost of our programs. If you do not have a relationship with these agencies, we are happy to discuss other options with you.

To find out more, contact our office and book an appointment to see the farm. Your trip through the farm will help assess whether the farm is a good fit for you and your young person.

If your young person is a suitable fit, we will provide further information on possible referral pathways.

Schools and referrers

If your young person is a suitable fit, we will provide further information on possible referral pathways.

Information for schools
Information for other referrers

Contact us for more information

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Principal, Chum Creek Primary School

Lesley and the staff at Good Life Farm build a wonderful rapport with participating students and this facilitates open discussion about appropriate behaviours and the effects of inappropriate behaviours on others.

Participant Parent

W’s involvement in the Farm this term has certainly been beneficial.

He is finding ways to deal with his anger and anxiety that has impacted his ability to go to school the past few years.

He is in a much happier space and the consistent approach farm has provided him has improved his self-esteem and wellbeing.

I wish to thank all the Good Life Farm staff for their hard efforts.

Participant Parent

The impact of the program has meant that S has been able to build an identity of self and to connect with people from a strengths based perspective – solid ground.

S found the environment at the Farm a very safe place which I am sad to say he has not had at school or in some family environments.

This term I have seen S grow into a young person who is taking some first steps into the world such as his first job.

Prior to his attendance at the Farm, his experience was too overwhelming for him to make sense of it.

S has a direction forward and concrete experiences of kindness, respect, excellence and commitment that he gained through his time at the Farm.

It takes a village to raise a child – and the Farm has been part of that village for S.

Participant Parent

I want to thank you for all that you have done to help J become the amazing person that he is. He shared with me your reflections on him and his journey at The Good Life Farm and it brought me to tears to think how much pain he was in before he found you.

I am so grateful for the loving kindness, support and space you and the animals have shown him. I am so proud of my young man and know that moments he shared with you are going to help him for the rest of his life.

In a super stressful time where we often didn’t know what to do next, he found a place at Good Life Farm where he could recover his sense of self and heal from the traumas and misunderstanding and school. I am excited for him to face the world with all that you have helped him know about himself.

Thank you for all that you do.

Assistance Principle, Healesville Primary School

“In our experience, students attending the program have become more engaged with school, developed greater resilience and strategies to assist with conflict resolution and recognition of the impact their behaviour has on other people.”

We acknowledge and respect the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin nation, the traditional custodians of this land since time immemorial. We are learning that the land is not ours to own, but to look after and that if we listen, we may hear in it the calling of the eternal Spirit. Responding to this call, we commit ourselves to work for justice, reconciliation and care of the earth.