By Sophie Davies
OLOT, Spain, July 26 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – High up in the remote hills of Catalonia, workers carefully stacked crates of yoghurt pots and diligently stuck labels on jars for one of Spain’s most successful – and unusual – dairies, where nearly half the staff have mental health problems.
For decades, La Fageda, meaning The Beech Forest in Catalan, has been employing people with mental health conditions, like schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, to help them find purpose in life and greater emotional stability.
“Normally those with schizophrenia inspire fear – people don’t know how they are going to act,” said Albert Riera, a spokesman for the pioneering social business, some 120 km northeast of Barcelona.
“At La Fageda, these people don’t have a label – they are totally integrated – and they start improving, reconstructing themselves without any intervention.”
Finding and holding on to paid work is often a challenge for people with mental health problems because of stigma and misunderstanding of the recovery process, according to the World Heath Organization.
But psychiatric studies show that even low paid, part-time work can reduce hospital re-admissions and their need for healthcare services.
Nearly 130 people with mental health issues work at La Fageda, mixing on a daily basis with about 160 other employees that do not.
While people with mental health conditions can struggle to maintain healthy routines and stay away from drugs, working at La Fageda motivates them to get up early, focus on recovery and improves emotional balance, said Riera.
“Our attitude is: you are not ill, you have an illness like I have a pain in my ligament – it’s the same,” he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
“You are responsible for your work, and you have to do it well, and then you will receive a wage … That they can see the yoghurts they have made in the supermarket – and that people pay for them – gives them great pride.”
