Horticultural therapy involves treating patients through gardening tasks, and can benefit those with physical, mental, or psychological disabilities. A horticultural therapist provides tailored guidance and support, and can also teach useful skills such as gardening and vocational skills. To become a horticultural therapist, one needs to have an interest in gardening and helping people, and join a training program.
A horticultural therapist is a therapeutic professional who treats patients by participating in horticultural tasks with them, ranging from preparing a site for gardening to selling produce at farmers’ markets. Horticultural therapy is used in rehabilitation programs for people with physical, mental or psychological disabilities and can also be integrated into the care of prisoners and the elderly. To become a horticultural therapist, one needs to have an interest in gardening and helping people, and one usually needs to join a program that trains rehabilitation professionals, followed by work experience in a therapy garden.
As many gardeners already know, working in a garden can be very therapeutic. Gardening can be emotionally calming and relaxing, encouraging a connection to the earth and creating a point of focus, and it can also be physically beneficial, allowing people to gently push their bodies to accomplish a variety of physical tasks. A horticultural therapist provides guidance and support tailored to the patient’s case, ranging from a troubled teenager who is invited into the garden to solve psychological problems to an elderly man in a wheelchair who feels he cannot garden until a horticultural therapist work with it to safely create a garden space.
As far back as the 1700s, people were recommending garden work to people with mental illness. Horticultural therapy can be beneficial for people with permanent disabilities, along with people recovering from physical or emotional trauma, and for people who need more socialization skills. A horticultural therapist may choose to specialize in a specific issue, such as rehabilitating people with disabilities to provide them with adaptive techniques or helping people with mental illnesses, or the therapist may work more generally as a therapist with all types of people.
In addition to using the garden as a space for therapy and rehabilitation, a horticultural therapist can also use therapy sessions to provide people with useful skills. People with mental disabilities, for example, can learn gardening skills so that they have a greater level of independence and the possibility of employment. Likewise, prisoners can benefit from a program that builds vocational skills that can be used externally to prevent reoffending. Horticultural therapists can also give back to their communities by establishing community gardens and supporting beautification efforts by assisting their patients.
Someone who is interested in a career as a horticultural therapist should think about areas of particular interest such as working with children, the mentally ill, veterans, people with disabilities, surgical patients, the elderly, prisoners, etc. Knowing what area of interest is attractive, the potential therapist can find a training program tailored to people who plan to work in that area.
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