A fund ready for donors. The Inner Fire Fund will launch a proactive, healing community at Grace Brook Farm in Brookline, Vermont, offering a choice for people to recover from debilitating and traumatic life challenges without the use of psychotropic medications. Donations will cover the cost of capital construction ($715K) and implementation personnel ($140K) as well as the projected cash-flow deficit during the ramp-up stage of operations (about $525,000 which could be financed with a charitable no-interest loan).  

Where the problem lies

‘Mental health challenges’, which in fact are usually soul health challenges, affect more than 18 million Americans every year and have become the leading cause of disability. This costs the nation billions in social security disability payments and robs individuals and families of the fullness of life.

“we can focus on the hurdles or the beauty…”

At the same time, there has been a shift in the way people are treated which relies on intensive use of psychotropic drugs instead of taking the necessary time and effort to understand the root causes of mental stress and then directing treatment to those causes.

Psychotropic medications mask the symptoms of illness at first, making it seem like they are effective treatments. However, we now know that these drugs have new and more dangerous health effects the longer they are taken, including early death, suicide, obesity, addiction and disability. Treatment centers prescribing these medications often see the same patients repeatedly, as relapse follows relapse and permanent dependence on numbing drugs replaces true healing and productive lives.

Help is on the way

Inner Fire, Inc. has been created to offer an alternative to the current treatment model. Detoxing from psychotropic medications will be part of the program, including holistic treatment options based on a range of proven therapeutic practices, structured individualized care and deep healing in a residential environment that values and reconnects the human being with his inner fire, inborn power and purpose in life.

The catalyst for Inner Fire was a thirty-eight year old man named Zach, who while struggling with mental health challenges, tragically took his own life. Zach did not know he had a choice to recover free from more…

Who is Inner Fire?
Inner Fire grew out of the personal and professional experience of Beatrice Birch. Beatrice has an extensive background in therapeutic and administrative aspects of residential treatment facilities and is a leading practitioner of Hauschka Artistic Therapy and has worked throughout the world in treatment facilities and training institutes. She has applied knowledge from 30 years of professional practice in prisons, inner cities, residential facilities and her own private practice.

She is joined in bringing Inner Fire to launch by Thomas Kavet, an economist and public policy expert, who has assisted with business, planning, construction and financial matters; Dr. Sandy Reider, a homeopath and Harvard-trained physician who has practiced in Vermont for the past 42 years and Dr. Nelson Kloster, a Vermont psychiatrist who specializes in addiction and drug-withdrawal treatment.

Healing in community

They are supported by many other therapists and experienced staff who share their conviction that development of Inner Fire is not simply for the purpose of offering an enhanced treatment option, but for many, a matter of life and death.

Our Purpose
The heart of this initiative is about people: love and respect for people and the challenges of being human.

Breathe deeply and keep climbing, one step at a time

It was motivated by the people in distress we have had the privilege of knowing and working with, some of whom ended their lives amidst a fog of hopelessness, pain and incarceration, and the people with whom we have worked who are skilled, caring, professionals who know there is a better way to achieve deep healing and recovery. We are committed to creating a place where such healing can occur and expanding this offering to all in need.