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Arizona farm gives refuge from pain, for man and beast alike

Small medallions stamped with names of the dead and messages to lost loved ones are displayed in a memorial at the Selah Carefarm in Cornville, Ariz., Oct. 4, 2022. (AP Photo/Dario Lopez-Mills) Joanne Cacciatore greets OB1, a rescued goat, at the Selah Carefarm in Cornville, Ariz., Oct. 4, 2022. (AP Photo/Dario Lopez-Mills) Johanna Fierstein sits with dogs Perseverance, aka "Percy", left and Aspen, at the Selah Carefarm in Cornville, Ariz., Oct. 4, 2022. As plans for Selah took shape, Joanne Cacciatore, who runs the farm, was reminded of the two dogs who stayed by her side even when the depths of her sorrow were too much for many friends. (AP Photo/Dario Lopez-Mills) Quentin, a rescued Alpaca, sits in the grass at the Selah Carefarm in Cornville, Ariz., Oct. 4, 2022. The farm is home to dozens of animals, many rescued from abuse and neglect, that are central to many visitors’ experience here. (AP Photo/Dario Lopez-Mills) Suzy Elghanayan embraces Luigi at the Selah Carefarm in Cornville, Ariz., Oct. 4, 2022. Luigi is one of the guardian dogs at the farm and "is one of most sweet, loving and neurotic animals" there. (AP Photo/Dario Lopez-Mills) Suzy Elghanayan sits on a trampoline with Gretl, a pygmy goat, at the Selah Carefarm in Cornville, Ariz., Oct. 4, 2022. Her son, Luca, 20, died earlier in the year of a seizure. (AP Photo/Dario Lopez-Mills) Erik Denton interacts with animals at the Selah Carefarm in Cornville, Ariz., Oct. 4, 2022. The 35-year-old repeat visitor is certain he can’t ever get over the deaths of his three children last year, but he’s functioning again. He does the dishes and makes his bed. He doesn’t hole up alone for days at a time. (AP Photo/Dario Lopez-Mills) An image of St. Francis of Assisi, patron saint of animals, hangs from a tree at the Selah Carefarm in Cornville, Ariz., Oct. 4, 2022. Across the farm, stories repeat of someone washed over by a wave of grief only to find an animal seem to offer comfort – a donkey nestling its face in a crying woman’s shoulder or a horse pressing its head against a grieving heart. (AP Photo/Dario Lopez-Mills) Erik Denton stands for a portrait at the Selah Carefarm in Cornville, Ariz., Oct. 4, 2022. The 35-year-old repeat visitor is certain he can't ever get over the deaths of his three children last year, but he's functioning again. He does the dishes and makes his bed. He doesn't hole up alone for days at a time. He's again able to talk about the children he loves. Denton feels as if he can connect with people here more than anywhere else. "Even though we're surrounded by so much pain, we're together," he says. "We're in it together." (AP Photo/Dario Lopez-Mills) Liz Castleman holds up a rock painted in strawberry colors to honor her son, Charlie, at the Selah Carefarm in Cornville, Ariz., Oct. 4, 2022. Charlie died while under anesthesia during an MRI, likely due to an underlying genetic disorder. Strawberries at the farm have even been forever rebranded as Charlieberries in recognition of his favorite fruit. (AP Photo/Dario Lopez-Mills) Liz Castleman holds up a rock with a dinosaur painted on it to honor her son Charlie, at the Selah Carefarm in Cornville, Ariz., Oct. 4, 2022. "All of the old safe spaces are gone. The farm, it really is the one safe space," says 46-year-old Castleman, whose son died while under anesthesia during an MRI, likely due to an underlying genetic disorder. "There's something, I don't know if it's magical, but you know that anything you say is OK and anything you feel is OK. It's just a complete bubble from the rest of the world." (AP Photo/Dario Lopez-Mills) A dog tag with the image of a lost loved one hangs from a tree at the Selah Carefarm in Cornville, Ariz., Oct. 4, 2022. (AP Photo/Dario Lopez-Mills) Rocks, painted to remember lost loved ones, are laid out at a quiet space in the Selah Carefarm in Cornville, Ariz., Oct. 4, 2022. (AP Photo/Dario Lopez-Mills) Joanne Cacciatore, left, talks with Suzy Elghanayan, as dog Perseverance, aka "Percy," watches at the Selah Carefarm in Cornville, Ariz., Oct. 4, 2022. While most who come to Selah take part in counseling sessions, Joanne Cacciatore, who runs the site, believes visitors’ experiences with the animals can be just as transformative. (AP Photo/Dario Lopez-Mills) Suzy Elghanayan speaks during an interview at the Selah Carefarm in Cornville, Ariz., Oct. 4, 2022. "There's a comfort in knowing," says Elghanayan, whose son died earlier in the year of a seizure, "that we're all in the same place that we never wanted to be." (AP Photo/Dario Lopez-Mills) Painted rocks and objects to remember lost ones are laid out at a quiet space in the Selah Carefarm in Cornville, Ariz., Oct. 4, 2022. (AP Photo/Dario Lopez-Mills) Mementos hang from a tree at the Selah Carefarm in Cornville, Ariz., Oct. 4, 2022. The farm is run by an Arizona State University professor, Joanne Cacciatore, whose baby daughter died during delivery in 1994, spurring a search for answers. She's focused her research on grief. (AP Photo/Dario Lopez-Mills) Joanne Cacciatore pauses during an interview at the Selah Carefarm in Cornville, Ariz., Oct. 4, 2022. Cacciatore was a mother of three in a workaday customer service job when her baby, Cheyenne, died during delivery in 1994. The trauma of that loss led her to the creation of the farm. (AP Photo/Dario Lopez-Mills) Johanna Fierstein, center, and Erik Denton, right, pet animals at the Selah Carefarm in Cornville, Ariz., Oct. 4, 2022. The farm, just outside the red rocks of Sedona, is a one-of-a-kind patch of land where the grieving can receive counseling and gather with others who've experienced a traumatic loss. (AP Photo/Dario Lopez-Mills) Joanne Cacciatore brushes horse Chemakoh at the Selah Carefarm in Cornville, Ariz., Oct. 4, 2022. Everyone has their favorite here, but horses may be the stars. Cacciatore believes they may even be more powerful than the counselors on site. Many tell of moving moments with a horse pressed their head to a grieving heart or lowered their face to the earth beneath them as they cried. "There's a resonance. There's a symbiosis," Cacciatore says. "It's hard to put to words, but it happens. I witness it every day. It's incredible. It's magical." (AP Photo/Dario Lopez-Mills)