Rebekah Churchyard is a Registered Social Worker, Care Coordinator of Specialized Geriatric Services for Home and Community Care Support Services Waterloo Wellington, and Founder and CEO of Green Care Farms Inc., the first nature-based program in Canada on an operational farm for people with dementia.
Rebekah and her family struggled to find meaningful and engaging programs for her grandfather Ron, a Christmas tree farmer, after he was diagnosed with dementia at age 63. This experience inspired Rebekah to leverage her more than 10 years’ experience as a social worker in health care and policy to spearhead a creative solution to dementia care beyond what was available in the public sector, relocating back to Kitchener-Waterloo to start Green Care Farms in 2020.
Green Care Farms provides people with dementia with responsibility, purpose, and belonging, while receiving the benefits of being physically active in nature, as well as providing their caregivers with much-needed respite.
The social enterprise model of Green Care Farms seeks to maximize positive social impact for the community, focusing on sustainable agricultural practices, innovative care models, and local food security. Produce grown through the program is distributed to local food banks, feeding at-risk older adults in the community. Rebekah also provides meaningful opportunities to volunteer and work on the farm through organized community day events and gatherings, allowing people of all ages to experience the social, physical, and mental health benefits of the program.
Currently, Rebekah is working with other professionals to expand the Green Care Farms model to other communities across the province.
Rebekah’s work demonstrates the power of social workers channelling their knowledge of systems and care gaps to address social problems and remove barriers for the people we serve.