You may have seen the big red barn right across the freeway from Lagoon in Farmington.
It's the Red Barn Academy, a working farm that helps to reinvent lives broken from addiction and crime.
They are not a ‘drug-rehab’. Instead the Red Barn Academy is a peer driven community focused on being clean and sober through behavior modification with a focus on honesty, accountability and integrity.
For two years, people work on the farm daily from 5:30 in the morning to 9 at night. There is no medication, no doctors or therapists, just men who have "been there and done that".
Alan Fahringer is one of those who has been there. For 37 years he says he was a drug addict and criminal. When he tried to get sober he realized the ones treating him had never gone through an addiction. He believes that addiction is not one's fault, but it is one's responsibility. The farm is run on the philosophy of "quit whining and get to work". That's why he says the Red Barn Academy works.
They are a non-profit, so they do accept donations. You can go to redbarnfarms.org to donate or to find more information if you're struggling or if you'd like help for a loved one.
