The story of how one tiny home community is elevating the thought that no one should be defined by their diagnosis.
Video by Payton Walker
Photos by Nicole Esch
Piece by Cailyn Derickson
Graphics by Jess Abel
A curfew had been declared. Thava Mahadevan, 16 at the time, wasn’t allowed to leave his home in his wealthy neighborhood of Sri Lanka. He heard yelling in the streets. In the distance, a cloud of black smoke consumed the sky. His family bolted the front door. He knew what was beginning.
Soon, the yelling became shrieks. The smoke moved closer. It was only 2 p.m., but the sky looked like it was night. A mob of about 50 people hadtaken over the street below Mahadevan’s home. They all carried machetes and guns.
The country’s brewing ethnic conflict turned into a civil war. The mob firebombed his home.
Eventually, Mahadevan and his older brother escaped Sri Lanka by flying to India. His parents joined them a few months later, but until then, Mahadevan and his brother lived on the streets. Eventually, a Hindu monastery, the Rama Krishna mission, took them in.
In India, Mahadevan graduated from college, came to the U.S., and earned a master’s degree in rehabilitative counseling psychology from UNC-Chapel Hill. His background as a refugee inspired him to help adults who struggle with serious mental illness and homelessness.
In 2011, Mahadevan established the Farm at Penny Lane, a 40-acre alternative therapeutic center near Pittsboro, North Carolina, through a partnership with XDS, a local nonprofit, and the UNC Center of Excellence in Community Mental Health.
The farm provides day programs for adults with serious mental illness. The programs include horticultural therapy, dog therapy and cooking, dance and art classes.
“People with serious mental illness live with very little income,” Mahadevan said. “They unfortunately are not able to have access to good food and healthy meals. Overall their health is really in bad shape. They die earlier than people without mental illness — almost 25 years younger than someone without a mental illness.”
The farm will expand to include a tiny home village next year. The village will include 15 homes built on permanent foundations and each home will be about 450 square feet. Five homes will be for veterans and the remaining 10 will be for adults in the program.
“When you don’t have a home, you are just living for the day,” Mahadevan said. “You are trying to figure out where am I going to sleep tonight. It doesn’t matter where, but you just need a place to sleep tonight. You have no time to think about or plan for the future or even plan for the month.”
Jake Edwards, who got involved with the farm three years ago, hopes to live in a tiny home. Edwards was diagnosed with schizophrenia in college.
Edwards, who is 43 now, has a smile bigger than his six-foot frame. His hair is speckled with gray. His voice is faint and he often pauses when he speaks.
He dropped out in his second year of medical school. He was experiencing psychotic breaks and often worried his neighbors were plotting against him. He was afraid if he left his house, he would harm his family.
“For the longest time, I denied it,” he said. “I didn’t believe it. I thought I was fine. It takes a long time to actually accept that you’re mentally ill.”
He was forced to tell his family when he entered the hospital after a psychotic break. He had a panic attacks and couldn’t catch his breath.
The farm has made Edwards feel more comfortable in social settings and has given him a reason to get out of bed each morning.
“With schizophrenia, you’re so focused on a small world, you don’t really focus on the outside,” he said. “This gives a community and something bigger. It’s just nice being around similar people that may have mental illness.”
Now, Edwards is the driver for the farm. He picks up participants from Carr Mill Mall each morning to bring them to the farm’s daily classes.
“They’re very accepting here,” he said. “There’s no judgment. They accept you for who you are and not your diagnosis.”
Michelle Morehouse, the farm’s program director, said the farm works with adults who have been diagnosed with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, chronic depression. However, the farm has a non-disclosure policy.
On Friday mornings and Monday afternoons, the farm offers work days, which are open to the public. Participants are not required to share information about their diagnosis with volunteers at the farm or other adults in the programs.
“We really believe that people should not be defined by their diagnosis,” Morehouse said. “That’s not a topic of conversation. If somebody wants to self-disclose, that’s fine, but we don’t need to know that information to be gardening together.”
Morehouse said there will be a selection process for those who will live in the tiny homes. But the official criteria have not been determined yet.
The homes will cost a third of somebody’s income. Mahadevan said if a participant’s income is $725 a month, a tiny home will cost $250 a month.
“When you are just thinking, ‘I need to figure out a safe place to sleep. I know I have this mental illness. I know I need to eat right. I know I need to take this medicine. You can’t afford to think about that when you don’t know where you are going to sleep tonight,’” Mahadevan said. “It’s important for us to be able to provide a safe place for someone where they can just lay their head for a while.”
