State Botanical Garden introduces horticultural therapy partnership with CAES
At the heart of the State Botanical Garden of Georgia’s mission is providing an accessible space for people to experience the healing powers of nature.
With the addition of a joint position with the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (CAES) at UGA, the garden plans to expand opportunities for horticultural therapy and therapeutic horticulture (HT/TH) programming and train the next generation of professionals to offer these services.
Horticultural therapy (HT) uses plants and gardening activities to help individuals improve physical, cognitive, social or mental health outcomes. It is facilitated by a trained professional who works with clients to achieve specific therapeutic goals. Therapeutic horticulture (TH), by contrast, is a broader approach that uses plant-based activities to enhance overall well-being or social connection, often in group settings, without formal goal tracking and sometimes without a trained therapist.
Sheri Dorn is an assistant professor of sociohorticulture and horticultural therapy in CAES and is splitting her position between the Department of Horticulture and the State Botanical Garden to provide HT/TH programming in the garden and offer service-learning opportunities to students.
According to Dorn, horticultural therapy is the use of horticulture, including plants and gardening, to reach a therapeutic goal. Horticultural therapy can be used in conjunction with other therapies for patients recovering from major injuries or illnesses. For example, horticulture activities such as lifting a watering can to water plants can help stroke patients regain strength during their recovery.
Working in horticulture can provide individuals with an intellectual disability opportunities to learn skills specific to horticulture, such as greenhouse work, as well as general workplace skills, such as interacting with coworkers and completing a timesheet.
Another benefit of horticultural therapy is its social aspect, which helps individuals experiencing grief or isolation find community in public garden spaces through programs that enable them to interact with others while gardening.
The State Botanical Garden has been offering therapeutic horticulture programming in its collaboration with UGA’s Cognitive Aging Research & Education (CARE) Center through the Meet Me at the Garden program.
Launched in the spring of 2023, the program provides interactive education and sensory activities in a garden setting to people with dementia and their caregivers. The program has been held at the State Botanical Garden and the UGA CARE Center as a pilot to explore how it can operate beyond a garden setting.
The State Botanical Garden recently received a Teaming for Interdisciplinary Research Pre-Seed grant from UGA for its project “Cultivating Care: Advanced Therapeutic Horticulture for Georgia’s Well-being and Resilience.”
With this grant, the garden hosted a leadership summit in March, bringing together local and regional partners with expertise in academic research, applied practice and community outreach to explore how therapeutic horticulture can support people living with Alzheimer’s disease and other related dementias.
A goal of the therapeutic horticulture program and its collaboration with other UGA units, such as the Archway Partnership, is to provide rural communities across the state with the knowledge and resources to host their own Meet Me at the Garden programming for the more than 188,000 Georgians who live with Alzheimer’s.
“Our mission at the State Botanical Garden is to create an environment for learning, inspiration and engagement, and the Meet Me at the Garden program has demonstrated that by allowing persons with dementia and their care partners to experience the healing power of nature,” said the director of the State Botanical Garden, Jenny Cruse-Sanders.
“We look forward to continuing to work with our internal partners at UGA and our external partners to deliver this programming to Georgians across the state.”
For more information about the State Botanical Garden of Georgia, visit botgarden.uga.edu. To learn more about the Meet Me at the Garden pilot program, visit https://botgarden.uga.edu/program-supports-people-with-dementia-and-caregivers/.
