Daily Sun Gardening Etcetera 4/9/11

HORTICULTURAL THERAPY
Loni Shapiro
Gardening, as most gardeners know, is a therapeutic experience. It’s the big reason most gardeners like to garden. Some claim necessity, such as growing food to save money. Others like to eat safer and better tasting food; however, all of them still enjoy nature doing its own thing. That joy is in part the reason that gardening is a form of therapy.

I saw the therapeutic effects of gardening while working in the gardens of the Olivia White Hospice Home for the last 7 years. The residents are brought into the gardens by their families or hospice volunteers. Sometimes, the gardens were soothing to the residents as they experienced the joys of nature: the sights, sounds, aroma, and touch of a garden. Other times, the gardens brought back pleasant memories or the enjoyment of actually working with plants and the soil. They’ve planted tomatoes, dug up potatoes, and started zinnias in their rooms.

A resident who had never gardened before learned how to plant tomatoes from her cart. Her face lit up with joy as she watched them grow. She came from a senior living home where she was active and socializing daily to a home where many residents were in their rooms and too sick to talk. She found happiness in the garden.

The gardens also help grieving family members to find peace, the staff to find needed respite from their work, and volunteer gardeners to reap the rewards of gardening as well as seeing the benefits to others.

Gardening as therapy is different from Horticultural Therapy (HT) which is an innovative treatment method used by trained horticultural therapists, using plants and gardening to improve the social, educational, psychological, and physical adjustments of an individual. As a healing element, it is used to help the lives of people disrupted by illness, trauma, injury, social, and economic problems and psychological and developmental disorders, as well as aging.

Horticultural therapists work in schools, nursing homes, prisons, psychiatric hospitals, rehabilitation centers, or hospices. One program I visited was a summer garden program in Colorado for developmentally delayed youth in middle school. They spent their summer growing food for themselves and a local shelter, gaining experience not only in gardening, but in providing for their community. Their pride and knowledge was evident as they showed me through the garden explaining how things grow and what their garden practices were. Many garden programs have also been initiated in prisons. Initial goals were to grow food, keep the inmates busy, and provide some work skills for reentry into society. The inmates also learned they could nurture, provide food for others, and gain self-esteem in their ability to carry out a job from start to finish.

There are several HT programs in Arizona. One of them is at a center for autistic children in Glendale. They have a greenhouse and a variety of outdoor plots they work. Several Horticultural Therapists on staff do programming. In Prescott a long time HTR, Pam Catlin, works in several programs. She has helped create a large garden for the residents of the Margaret T. Morris home for residents with Alzheimer. It has a long wandering path, raised beds, and many opportunities for sensory experiences. She also works in a local nursing home doing an intergenerational program for residents and a local grade school.

Last fall, I attended the National Horticultural Therapy Conference with participants from all over the world which was held at the Chicago Botanic Gardens, home to a large HT Program started by Gene Rothert, HTR. He has written several books about adapting gardens for those with physical limitations and created an amazingly large, adaptive garden within the CBG.
The conference and visit reinforced the healing effects of gardening for all of us, and the need to clarify what we call it. Therapeutic horticulture is what we all experience in gardening. Horticultural Therapy has the same benefits but is provided by a certified professional, using goals and measurements that help clients improve their health and quality of life. More information on Horticultural Therapy is available at the web site ahta.org.

Loni Shapiro, a Master Gardener and Occupational Therapist with training in Horticultural Therapy, will speak on Horticultural Therapy at the meeting of the Master Gardener Association this coming Thursday evening, April 13, 6:30 p.m., at the Shepherd of the Hills Lutherans Church. Dana Prom Smith (http:highcountgrygardener.blogspot.com), editor of GARDENING ETCETERA, can be reached at stpauls@npgcable.com