Testimonials

“If you go online and look up CooperRiis and look at some of the alumni from that place — they are filled with hope when they leave. They’ve been there…six months, a year. Their hope is not dashed; it’s actually created.” 

Dominic A. Sisti, Ph.D.
Director, The Scattergood Program for Applied Ethics of Behavioral Health Care

 

“We are overinvested in the medical model…I’m well aware of the power of community, of work, friendship and of love, combined with the right medication and the right psychotherapy. Places like CooperRiis…an extraordinary place that represents deep hope and should very much be supported. It’s very important to have this communal support.”

Oliver Sacks, MD
Neurologist and Professor of Neurology at NYU Medical School

 

“CooperRiis is a beacon of light that helps us believe our ideals of peace-filled healing care are real and possible and should be the standard of care.”

Resident’s Family

Disability-rights activist, Psychologist, and Leader in the Recovery Movement

“We need to rethink long-term therapeutic care in a way that embraces the recovery principles where individuals with serious mental illness can actually take part in their care planning in a very active way… there are other really interesting models out there, including therapeutic farmsteads, a place called CooperRiis outside Asheville, North Carolina, that does some amazing work. Where people can actually go, live, get the treatment they need, and be stabilized. It might be six months; it might be a year, it might be two years. But these places exist.”

Pat Deegan, PhD

“I laughed, cried, and felt another layer of aloneness peel off, and another layer of hope build in my heart as a result of participating in Family Education Weekend.”

Resident’s Family

“We will always be grateful to CooperRiis and its wonderful team for restoring the light in her eyes and hope in our daughter’s voice.”

Resident’s Family