Art Barn Behavioral and Community Health Center

The Production Farm is a professional behavioral health organization who aims to reimagine mental health in a way that meets individuals where they are at, through accessible, creative, and custom person centered programs. The farm focuses on experiential, project based programming through access to unique interests and vocations.

The organization was founded in 2014 as an after school arts program for foster youth in Northeastern Wisconsin, called the Urban Production Farm. The program combined the fundamentals of gardening and farming with independent filmmaking. In 2016 The Production Farm purchased its Farm property. It has served as garden programming space, a respite and foster home, a community corn maze, and now a full behavioral and mental health facility. In 2018 the program found it’s true strength, by growing the program and scope of the programs. Our growth in focus was upon the realization that our programs could have a much larger impact for a more diverse community. We were able to mold the strengths of what the Farm was already providing and found a way to give it to substantially more young people who were lacking in the care they were receiving.

The Barn has been partially renovated and boasts heating, handicap accessible bathrooms, recreation space, a functional stage, and multi-purpose areas. Therefore the space is nearly perfect to accommodate our needs, however it needs additional improvements in order to be made fully accessible and functional. In short, the barn will need an overhaul to meet the safety standards required for programming with the clientele and community we serve.

There is a significant need for rural impacting and project based mental health services. We aim to meet this need by cultivating a community center aimed at providing flexible mental health resources; with public mental health training and events, fundraisers and youth engagement programs. The goal is to be as much of an asset as we possibly can to the health of our community; however we can, whenever we can.