For years, Steve Davis struggled with anxiety, depression and alcoholism.
He saw multiple doctors, tried numerous drugs and visited psychologists, but nothing seemed to provide long-term relief.
Two years ago, he was misdiagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).
"The first time I took my ADHD medication, I felt amazing," he said.
"But within a few days, I was a zombie... I started to get angrier and angrier, followed by sadder and sadder."
Mr Davis attempted to end his own life.
"Upon leaving the hospital, I genuinely just wanted to hide from the world," he said.
It wasn't until he ventured out into his garden and started working on his small hobby farm at Sancrox on the New South Wales Mid North Coast that he began to find himself again.
"It was where I could relax, do my own thing, create, and be my authentic self."
Starting a community farm
The work had a positive effect on Mr Davis' mental health.
"My wife and I had seen the amazingly transformative effect the farm had, not just in terms of my recovery, but also in my wife's ability to cope with what had happened, and also in creating calmer and happier kids," he said.
Mr Davis and his partner Aj decided to open their farm to the community.
"A couple of families sort of wanted to have a look around. They really enjoyed what we were doing," Ms Davis said.
"So, we let their kids feed the chickens and do stuff like that, and the family decided to put some photos of the trip on Facebook … and it went viral.
"The next day, 80 people showed up at our door."
The pair worked to make the farm family-friendly and started running farm tours, selling produce and breeding animals to fund their project.
They also opened the farm to others struggling with their mental health.
Before long, the local hospital and psychologists across the region had started recommending people to visit.
"I think word just kind of spread, and before we knew it, we had people coming to us from the hospital," Ms Davis said.
"We've had child psychologists bringing kids out."
The pair reached out to a local disability employment service and have been able to employ a few people.
"We try to mainly focus on mental health," Ms Davis said.
"Pretty much everybody who works for us now is in that ballpark."
Mr Davis said they had noticed their employees benefiting from the work.
"We have already had some amazing results," he said.
Lockdown a 'blessing'
The pair said they always wanted to start a farm on their property but struggled to find the time.
However, shortly after Mr Davis was discharged from the hospital, New South Wales was put into lockdown.
"Selfishly, I loved the idea of the COVID lockdown," Mr Davis said.
However, the feeling was not initially shared by Ms Davis, who was struggling to keep their entertainment business afloat.
"In 48 hours, our entire business had shut down, and all our staff had been put off," she said.
The pair and their two boys spent most days in the paddock, building garden beds, making pens for animals and planting crops.
They have big plans to continue developing the not-for-profit community farm, including running special events and workshops.
But mental health will always be their main focus.
