{"id":12520,"date":"2017-04-24t16:03:27","date_gmt":"2017-04-24t16:03:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dpetrov.2create.studio\/planet\/wordpress\/the-mental-landscape-for-a-sustainable-city\/"},"modified":"2017-04-24t16:03:27","modified_gmt":"2017-04-24t16:03:27","slug":"the-mental-landscape-for-a-sustainable-city","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/story\/the-mental-landscape-for-a-sustainable-city\/","title":{"rendered":"the mental landscape for a sustainable city"},"content":{"rendered":"

by ashley hackett<\/strong><\/p>\n

from the outside, the eco-town kalu yala seems to fit the description of a jungle utopia. beautiful twenty-somethings with edgy tribal tattoos, perfectly bronzed skin and wiry, athletic bodies walk barefoot through a town square filled with hammocks and raised platform huts.<\/p>\n

they are pushing wheelbarrows filled with dirt, sawing wood for a table, painting educational signs, planting seeds for harvests that feed the community, running on a forest path that leads to the cool r\u00edo. a wild paradise.<\/p>\n

\"\"
kalu yala interns swim in the r\u00edo on a sunny afternoon, one of the many perks interns enjoy at the end of the workday as they help to build a sustainable city. (<\/em>emma sarappo\/medill)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

many interns find the 10-week stay transformative, in pursuit of ecological skills and new friends. but just as a beautiful face can sometimes hide a tortured soul, the outward beauty and serenity of kalu yala is only the surface level to the emotions that can run in an undercurrent of the jungle town. in a place so focused on environmental sustainability, an important caveat at kalu yala is its struggle to create an environment that is mentally<\/em> sustainable.<\/p>\n

\u201cthis place is an emotional rollercoaster for some reason,\u201d said brett towle, a 20-year-old design thinking intern at kalu yala. \u201cit has a lot to do with the conditions you\u2019re working in, the close quarters. you go through this honeymoon phase at the beginning, like, \u2018this is paradise, how could i ever be upset here?\u2019 then, you start working and realize there\u2019s serious lack of resources, there\u2019s a lot of lack of communication between employees, and getting materials for projects is very difficult.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"
design thinking intern brett towle reflects on his 10 weeks of sometimes grueling conditions at kalu yala. design thinking is just one of several program areas for the interns. (<\/em>cassandra majewski\/medill)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

towle, a student at the university of virginia, spoke of the hard times of his stint at kalu yala in retrospect. after the \u201choneymoon phase\u201d of the first few weeks in the jungle wears off, many interns \u2013 including towle \u2013 reported that the grueling conditions and forced camaraderie made life in the jungle difficult. in his ninth week out of the 10-week program, he felt that life at kalu yala now seemed a lot rosier in retrospect.<\/p>\n

although the outdoor life can be therapeutic for many people, basking in sunlight and working with the land is not always enough for everyone to overcome more deep-seated mental and physical challenges. <\/p>\n

\u201ci\u2019ve dealt with major depression since i was a kid, and i had it under control for most of my adult life. i was never really impacted, and if i had issues i dealt with it on the side,\u201d said 32-year-old carly schwartz as she reflected on her truncated time at kalu yala.<\/p>\n

schwartz, the editor-in-chief of google insider, first arrived in kalu yala in september 2016 to kickstart the media program there. after writing an article on kalu yala as deputy national editor at the huffington post<\/em>, the eco-city captivated her. her first few weeks in the jungle were filled with the same ecstasy that inspires many who embark on the 10-week odyssey in the wilderness. as time wore on, however, things took a turn for the worse.<\/p>\n

\u201cwhen i got to kalu yala, i was so euphoric and activated by the ideas and hope and possibilities that i stopped taking my meds because i thought i was cured,\u201d schwartz said. \u201ci realized almost immediately that was a grave mistake.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"
schwartz returned to kalu yala recently to bring a group of journalism students to visit, sitting in a familiar rancho, one of the roofed platforms built for living space and meetings. (emma sarappo\/medill)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

although schwartz could tell that something was off at first, she ignored the feeling. gradually, however, she felt herself slipping back into depression.<\/p>\n

\u201ca month or two later, i opened my eyes and realized, \u2018wow \u2013 i\u2019m really stressed. i can\u2019t function this way,\u2019\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

schwartz\u2019s experience at kalu yala is one of pain and struggle that worsened<\/em> her condition after she went off of her medication. however, many interns reported gaining confidence and kicking some of their issues they struggled with in civilization. samantha picker, a community wellness intern from australia, felt that coming to kalu yala was her biggest step in coming to terms with her own mental unrest.<\/p>\n

\u201cit\u2019s easier to feel your self-worth here because you feel the weight of other people and you realize, \u2018oh, i\u2019m actually worth something here,\u2019\u201d the 25-year-old said. \u201csome people here came in and were dealing with stuff. when you get here, you\u2019re living [in close quarters with] 50 people in a way that you\u2019re not used to. if you have anything emotional underneath, it\u2019s surfaced. you can\u2019t run away. but for me, that was a good thing; i realized that it wasn\u2019t harming me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"
samantha picker, wellness intern, said kalu yala’s unique climate boosted her self confidence and helped her mental health in general. (<\/em>cassandra majewski\/medill)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

and the work is inventive, with interns designing new kinds of sustainable housing or helping to create new recipes for biofuels using waste products. but what works so well for some people at kalu yala does not work for others, a distinction between someone struggling with a troubled past and someone diagnosed with a mental health illness or disorder.<\/p>\n

according to the anxiety and depression association of america, major depressive disorder \u201caffects more than 15 million american adults, or about 6.7 percent of the u.s. population age 18 and older in a given year.\u201d diagnosed depression is not the same as feeling sad from a breakup or loneliness or even a death in the family. it is a heavy feeling that people experience daily or nearly daily for no apparent reason. depression can be due to a simple chemical imbalance, and is often successfully treated with medication, for good reason.<\/p>\n

kalu yala has limited access to hospitals and advanced clinics, and interns are expected to bring their own medications. the nearest hospital is a two-hour drive or, in an emergency, a 30-minute helicopter ride. the nearest clinic in the small town of san miguel offers prescriptions, though not to the capacity of most pharmacies in the united states. with these limited medical resources, supporting someone with a preexisting chronic mental illness or health issue proves tricky. community nurse michele conlin said kalu yala meets these challenges with pre-screening and on-site care.<\/p>\n

\"\"
michele conlin, community nurse and head of safety at kalu yala, speaks about some of the medical risks associated with living in a jungle society. (<\/em>cassandra majewski\/medill)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cpeople have to fill out a very complete form about prior history of both physical and mental health issues, so if at the beginning of the semester i have to address any issues, i\u2019ll talk to people directly,\u201d said conlin, also the head of safety at kalu yala. \u201cwe are very specific when people are enrolling that this is a remote area, that we are within a two-hour drive to the nearest hospital. we do make that disclaimer when people come.\u201d<\/p>\n

healthcare accessibility became a major issue when schwartz needed it most and ultimately decided to leave kalu yala.<\/p>\n

\u201cpeople who deal with depression on a regular basis and think they can come to kalu yala and find some sort of treatment cure are in for a rude awakening,\u201d schwartz said. \u201cit was the opposite of rehab for me. there was no alone time, and it\u2019s a harsh environment with 80 others your own age and nowhere to go if you need to be alone or have privacy to deal with traumatic feelings or events. i didn\u2019t want to talk to people about [my depression], and as a leader i didn\u2019t feel like i could be super vulnerable.\u201d<\/p>\n

schwartz fought her condition for weeks, but eventually had to go home to san francisco where she sought help to regain control. \u201cin retrospect, if i hadn’t gone off my meds i probably would have stayed through the end of the semester, but i don’t think i would have moved to kalu yala,” schwartz said.<\/p>\n

and now, kalu yala executives plan to expand the eco-city to include even more developed land and more staff and interns. if adventurous twenty-somethings continue to trek into the jungle prepared to manage their own mental and physical health conditions, the eco-city should be safe \u2013 relative to the challenges of jungle living \u2013 and sustainably run.  <\/p>\n

but for those like schwartz, facing intense labor and incredible growth while managing a diagnosed chronic illnesses, the eco-town becomes as foggy as the jungle\u2019s early mornings.<\/p>\n

\"\"
carly schwartz walks through the<\/em> kalu yala town square in october 2016. (abigail foerstner\/medill)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

“now that i\u2019m in a good place, i absolutely would go back again,” schwartz said. “but kalu yala is not the place you can go and take mental illness lightly. and you certainly can\u2019t go thinking that you\u2019re going to cure yourself. if you do that, you\u2019ll end up eaten alive.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

in a place so focused on environmental sustainability, an important caveat at the eco-town kalu yala is its struggle to create an environment that is mentally sustainable.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9417,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4919,4916,4894,4917,4909,4914],"tags":[3786,3549,81],"storyfest_categories":[],"class_list":["post-12520","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-agriculture","category-climate","category-efficiency","category-energy","category-public-health","category-sustainability","tag-kalu-yala","tag-mental-health","tag-sustainability"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nthe mental landscape for a sustainable city - planet forward<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/story\/the-mental-landscape-for-a-sustainable-city\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_us\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"the mental landscape for a sustainable city - 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