My name is Rein, and for mental health reasons, I participate in adult day services at a care farm. I really enjoy it, although it took some getting used to at first. Most of the people working there have an intellectual disability, and I must admit that I initially had some preconceptions about that. However, since I started working there, those prejudices have completely disappeared, and I am now trying to raise awareness for this wonderful form of care—green care.

I once completed a technical education before I ended up experiencing a burnout. Looking back, I probably would have been better off choosing a path in the healthcare or social care sector. Everything I am currently learning about animals, care, and nature is through self-study, buying my own books, and so on.

Personality-wise, I am an INFJ 4w5, which means I spend a lot of time philosophizing about the place where I work and using psychology to understand my colleagues deeply—something I am quite good at. The knowledge I gain from social care books is not used to compete with my supervisors, but rather to see what it is like to walk in their shoes and to better understand my colleagues. I often feel like a stargazer who doesn’t fully grasp the underlying theory just yet.

Yours,

Rein