2024 Fall Newsletter

Horticultural Therapy is making an impact on people’s lives.
Read more about how it’s happening.

HTI Director’s Note
Energizing, Informative & Connecting:
IPPS 2024 Review

By Rebecca Haller, HTM

Looking back to July and the International People Plant Symposium held in Reading, England, many aspects stand out. Keywords that come to mind are energizing, informative, and connecting.

Being around so many people from five continents who were fully engaged was motivating and encouraging. As an organizer with a lot of attention to detail required during the event, remarkably, the net energy for me was a positive gain. This speaks to the spirit of those who share a passion for using horticulture for therapeutic and wellness purposes. And there seems to be a growing lot of us globally.

The speakers covered a wide range of topics, effectively addressing the conference theme “Cultivation of Human Health Through Horticulture: From Gardening Lifestyle to Professional intervention.” Informative and motivational speakers addressed gardening health prescriptions, horticultural therapy and therapeutic horticulture programs around the world, research on the psychophysiological effects of gardening, and care farms, to name a few. Speakers’ written papers will be published as proceedings of the symposium, available as an Acta Horticulturae journal next year (free for delegates or by purchase through the International Society of Horticultural Science – more on that as it is published).

As is usual in professional gatherings such as IPPS, the connections made were perhaps the most valuable part of attending. Noticeable were the dynamic conversations taking place at breaks, dinners, tours, workshops, and even lingering long after the close of the symposium. Discussions about possible internationally used terminology which began in recent years is continuing post-symposium. Collaborations have begun and strengthened among representatives across countries and continents. We have so much in common and so much passion for the work we all do, no matter how or where we apply the use of horticulture to advance human wellbeing.

Deadlines Fast Approaching for HTI Certificate

Learn how to combine a passion for gardening and helping people through the innovative field of horticultural therapy. To begin the certificate students must begin by attending the Fundamentals of Horticultural Therapy class. Join students from across the country to learn more by enrolling in this class in three different formats. This fall at Elkus Ranch in Half Moon Bay, CA. Oct. 30-Nov. 2, 2024 is the face-to-face class for the fall. Two additional sections will be offered online. At the non-profit Horticultural Therapy Institute, our mission is to provide education and training in horticultural therapy to those new to, or experienced with, the practice of using gardening and plants to improve the lives of others. The remaining three classes in the HT Certificate program in 2025 will be held in California and Colorado.

The HT Institute has provided education in the field for over 20 years and is a leader in HT education. The director, Rebecca Haller, HTM is also one of the authors and editors of both major textbooks in horticultural therapy. The format of classes meets student’s unique learning style and are offered both face-to-face and online (synchronous). To begin the certificate program, enroll in one of the following sections of the Fundamentals of HT class. The Fundamentals of HT class cost is $950 or $760 for full-time college students. Classes fill quickly. https://www.htinstitute.org/student-enrollment/ or call 303-388-0500.

Fundamentals of HT section I: Oct. 21-24, 2024 (online, mountain standard time)
Fundamentals of HT section II: Oct. 30-Nov. 2, 2024 (Half Moon Bay, CA)
Fundamentals of HT section III: Dec. 4-7, 2024 (online, mountain standard time)

Program Profile:
Planting Seeds & Growing Wisdom
My Therapeutic Horticulture Practioner Journey

By Meghan Goulden

My journey in therapeutic horticulture (TH) began when I was a kid in northern California.  I spent hours outside making mudpies decorated with flowers and smashing fruit off the trees to make “jam”.   As an adult, I used my garden to process the death of my parents. I didn’t know why I felt better, or why I felt the need to get my hands in the soil. Afterwards, I knew I just felt grounded and calm.

Therapeutic Plant-Based Programs

An article I read after my children entered high school profiled horticultural therapist Suzanne Redell. I learned that there was a science, practice and career that could explain so many of my experiences in the garden. It sounded like something that I was meant to do. It turns out that Sue lived down the street and was also a master gardener. She became my internship supervisor, and I completed my Horticultural Therapy Institute classes in 2018. 

Since 2018, I have created therapeutic plant-based programs for a variety of clients. In 2020, I started on-line Zoom classes for my employer so that clients and their families could continue to engage with plants during the pandemic. I also started working with Sue and Corey Carmichael, HTR, at a mental health hospital undergoing major construction. We gardened outside with bulldozers running, masks on, extreme heat and flooding rains in 2021-23. This showed me how important it is to work with a team of horticultural therapy (HT) practitioners. Each session was a challenge on so many levels. Working together, I realized that although the site was chaotic, our team had an enormous amount of patience and creativity. We provided a space and activities which allowed residents to experience remembrance, self-care, contentment, and connection. It was a profound experience for me to see how these little moments added up over time.

My latest therapeutic horticulture chapter is starting my own business this year. The learning curve is currently very steep. Services, marketing, pricing, selling, billing – so many skills to learn at once. I work with individual clients in their homes and with groups teaching gardening skills with a therapeutic twist. Here are a few pieces of “sage” wisdom I am learning that may help you on your own journey:

1. Create a supportive board of advisors. Gather other HT practitioners or friends in business who can encourage, teach, laugh, and share ideas.  This field can be isolating, and we often have different skill sets to share.

2. Don’t sell yourself short. Your TH/HT services are not the “free chips and salsa” for an organization or client. It is the ‘guacamole’ – worth the extra cost, time, and effort to have it. While you may need to do a free sample sessions or take lower paying jobs or internships at first, the program and services we provide are worth fair compensation. This field requires a compassionate heart, flexibility, an entrepreneurial spirit, and creativity to help people have their best experience in your program.   

3. Tend to your own garden to prevent burnout. Whatever gives you peace and refuge, make sure to tend to this on a regular basis. It is common to put all your efforts into your client’s gardening spaces, and then be exhausted when the time comes to putter in your own garden. 

Working in this field has given me a sense of purpose, joy, and connection. I look forward to learning more wisdom from others in the field at our upcoming American Horticultural Therapy conference this October.

Megan Goulden, THP Owner, Seed & Sage is an HTI graduate.

Tips for Practice:
Growing Green Futures: Working with Teens

By Michele Bailey

When I was studying for my Horticultural Therapy certificate in 2016, I expected that I would be working with adults with disabilities and with elder populations. Through a wonderful intervention of events, a supportive boss, and a mid-life career change, I found my way into youth garden education and, much to my surprise, have found my perfect fit in working with teens. Teens today are passionate about the environment, their families and their communities and being a part of their journey to adulthood is a real treat.

Workforce Development Program

As a staff member at Franklin Park Conservatory and Botanical Gardens in Columbus, Ohio, I coordinate a program called Teen Corps. The program began in 2016 as an eight-week summer workforce development program that would provide opportunities for underserved teens to learn about horticultural careers and to develop good work skills. In addition to job preparedness and creating a pathway to green careers, our activities support development of critical thinking skills and problem solving, communication, teamwork and entrepreneurship, customer service and culinary education.

Here are some of our activities and the goals they support:

• Growing produce in our market garden, and selling it at our weekly farmer’s market
  • Teamwork
  • Customer service
  • Communication
  • Marketing
  • Basic understanding of plant science
• Cooking fresh produce from the garden
  • Better awareness of nutrition
  • Learn basic cooking skills
• Speakers and Field Trips
  • Introduction to green careers
  • Learn how to build a resume
  • Community Service
  • Local food systems
  • Financial Literacy
  • Environmental science
  • Food waste

The teens also work with our camp staff (the campers aged 5-9, think the teens are AWESOME!) and with our horticulturists who teach them about taking care of ornamental plant collections.

I’ve found that working with teens is the same as working with most other populations. The most important things are to treat them as individuals and to be authentic. Offer clear expectations and be clear about consequences. Our teens have to sign in and out, wear their uniforms, call or text when they are running late, practice safe work skills and communicate with their supervisors. We do individual evaluations with them three times during the eight weeks to remind them of our expectations, to encourage them on their newfound skills and good work, and create smart goals for them to work on.

Tips for Working with Teens

The following is a list for working with teens that I share with volunteers and staff:

• Ask about them
• Listen to them
• Use the pronouns they choose
• Respect them
• Frame the conversation to involve them
• Let them teach you and share their expertise
• Allow them to take ownership of activities and give them agency
• Encourage creative problem solving
• Give them choices
• Make sure everyone has a voice
• Allow time for reflection
• Give them a challenge – teens LOVE competition
• Use Humor – don’t be afraid to make fun of yourself
• Feed them!

I have witnessed a few “lightbulb” moments through the years.

Pertaining to Produce:

• One year, none of the teens had seen or heard of Kohlrabi. We had a bunch of it one market and I challenged them to sell it all. One of the teens made it a personal goal and took it upon himself to learn about kohlrabi, its culinary uses and its nutrition benefits. He then walked through the market, engaging customers with his spiel. The kohlrabi sold out and we crowned him, “The Kohlrabi King”.
• One teen was astounded that vegetable chili had NO MEAT in it!
• Okra – what is that?! And it’s related to HIBISCUS?

Plants:

• “Working at the Conservatory ignited my passion for plants and led me to take a botany class last year”. That teen is now studying horticulture in college.
• “I’ve never been a morning person but ever since I started this job, I feel energized. Maybe it’s because I have a purpose and feel like I’m doing something good.” This teen is studying to be a pharmacist with a focus on plant-based medicine.

Confidence:

• “I felt confident knowing that I grew food that other people were going to eat. It’s like, oh my God, I did that! That was me. I did that and it was great.”

Connectedness:

• “Because when you look at life around you, it makes you think about good things, like there’s trees and they give us oxygen. You can find the good in everything when it comes to nature. Then you get to see flowers and birds, and it’s signs that life is still there and that there’s happiness all around you.”

Belonging

• “The people [here] appreciate me and who I am. You always want to find somewhere you’re wanted. I think I’ve found mine.”​

This past summer provided a couple of full circle moments when we hired one of our former Teen Corps participants as part of Teen Corp education staff and invited another participant to be a guest culinary instructor. Both have followed their passions and have made a place in their community and are using their voices in making a positive difference for others.

It’s not hyperbole when I say that I pinch myself somedays because I can’t believe I get paid to do this work.

Michele is the coordinator of Teen Corp at the Franklin Park Conservatory & Botanical Gardens as well as a graduate of the HT Institute.

HTI Kudos

Raising Awareness

HTI graudate Amy Bruzzichesi shared her recent success. “It’s been amazing to put everything I have learned into practice and help raise awareness and skills at the state level.” She recently became the Therapeutic Horticulture Program Manager at North Carolina Cooperative Extension and began a partnership with UNC-Chapel Hill’s NC Botanical Garden therapeutic horticulture team to manage and co-teach four online courses in the Therapeutic Horticulture series. The courses are designed to give working professionals, volunteers, and students a starting place in the field to add to their own multi-disciplinary practices and/or implement their own TH programs. They teach students from all over North Carolina, the United States, and 18 other countries to learn with us in these asynchronous courses. She also serves in an outreach capacity to the 100 North Carolina counties through Cooperative Extension, helping agents identify TH opportunities in their communities and providing resources to train Master Gardener volunteers to build and augment TH programs. “I am delighted that North Carolina values therapeutic horticulture enough to support this position at the state level, and honored to be the first person to serve in this capacity,” she shared. 

Grant Awarded: Trellis Horticultural Therapy Alliance

Two HTI graudates, Rachel Cochran and Wendy Battaglia and their horticultural therapy business Trellis received a grant from the National Environmental Education Foundation (NEEF), pilot grant program called Veterans in Nature. The grant required that the nonprofit have a “land partner’, an entity that manages a national forest, state forest or public park land. Their partner is Legacy Park Decatur/City of Decatur, GA who purchased a 77 acre parcel that used to be a Methodist children’s home/orphanage. Trellis is building a second accessible garden and launching a wheel-chair-accessible community garden in the same space. The mission of Trellis is to use the power of gardening and nature to enrich the lives of people living with disabilities by providing purpose, fostering independence, and creating community. Congratulations Rachel and Wendy!