Community Projects in Horticultural Therapy

Providence Farm * Jubilee Gardens * Community Circle Growers
Malaspina College-University * Vancouver Island Health Authority
Drumheller Communities in Bloom * Columbia Valley Botanical Gardens

Providence Farm 

My horticultural therapy career began at Providence Farm in 1989. Recently returned from Papua New Guinea with CUSO and wanting to establish roots in the Cowichan Valley, I answered an ad in the local paper for a greenhouse/nursery employee who would work with persons with mental health issues.

I quickly recognized the need for community integration and for the creation of a healthier mixed community, and so I began introducing and developing horticulture programs for persons with barriers to employment and education. Together with supervisor Jack Hutton, a dedicated Board of Directors, the Sister's of St. Ann, and Providence Farm's wonderful staff and volunteers, I developed and managed:

• Greenways, a supported employment program for persons with mental health issues.
• St. Ann's Garden Club for seniors.
• Individual horticulture and employment training for clients of Worker's Compensation Board.
• Individual rehabilitative programs for persons with traumatic brain injury through the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia and the Brain Injury Program of the Ministry of Health.
• Individual training programs for Displaced Forestry Workers through Forest Renewal BC and for individuals interested in employment through the then Ministry of Skills, Training and Labour.

In addition to program management, I oversaw the operation of a market garden, field crops, greenhouse, nursery, orchard, landscape maintenance, small engine workshop, woodworking shop, St. Ann's Allotment Garden, store and value-added products both retail and wholesale. I saw it was paramount to balance the needs of the persons using the services of Providence Farm with the needs both of the farm and the wider community.

In Spring 2001 and after 13 years, I stepped down from being Programs Manager of Providence Farm, so I could concentrate on promoting and providing Canadian and International educational opportunities in Horticultural Therapy.

Jubilee Gardens 

GardenPals at Work

GardenPals is an intergenerational gardening program currently running at the Jubilee Community Garden in Centennial Park, Duncan B. C. The garden itself has been in production for 2 years and, with no fence, donates 100+ bags of organic vegetables each year, besides what the gardeners take home. Education plays a large part at the garden, and GardenPals is a way to support that goal, as well as offering a chance for “growing neighbourhood connections”. Duncan Manor Seniors and students at Khowhemun Elementary School are all neighbours of the Jubilee Community Garden, but there is little chance for the 2 groups to meet or interact. Designed for these 2 populations, GardenPals is a Horticultural Therapy program which has been blessed with a lot of local support and is enjoying sweet success.

Khowhemun Elementary students and teachers enjoyed their tours of the garden in 2005 and requested additional programming for 2006. Duncan Manor represented a group of potential volunteers, so I began talks with the new manager and with the principal. I thought long and hard about what I could offer, what the participants would need, what the benefits would be to all the parties, who I would approach for funding, etc. Making sure that I had the garden group’s backing, I started to put together my proposal in the fall and found that there was incredible support for my ideas as they were forming. We soon had donations of a meeting room for 4 training sessions in March, T-shirts for the Seniors, food, and photocopying. I went ahead and pursued funding, as I do need a little income sometimes, and started requesting letters of support and funding from the involved parties. This brought the writing of many letters asking for letters, including drafts of the letters that I wanted from them, and more letters.

Soon I had a teacher contact at the school, someone I could email constantly to figure out the details as they evolved, and letters of support, with values of the donations. I was so touched by the generosity offered to “my baby” that I vowed that I would do the program as a volunteer if necessary, just to make it happen. Operating on faith, I kept working on details and schedules, assuming that the pilot project was a go. I kept talking about GardenPals, even mentioning my frustrations and problems, and found that people wanted to help. I called myself “your favourite garden pest” and kept bugging people. Since there weren’t sufficient funds for a wage, the garden group agreed to give me an honorarium for the program hours that I would put in.

There were 4 training sessions for the Seniors in March, which provided background information about horticulture and filled in gaps in their knowledge, as well as providing a tea party every Monday morning. We had herb tea and black tea, platters of organic fruit and tea sandwiches with flowers. We had half an hour to just enjoy each other’s company and sample teas, after a half-hour lecture. There were hand-outs each week, so that people had something to take away, and a walk to the garden and back, for the last half-hour. A total of 13 Seniors participated that month. In April we had 2 more training sessions to fill in the volunteer forms required by the school (and a standard procedure these days). As the weather improved, the attendance dropped, but the 4 GardenPals said that they would meet the commitments to the students….for all 3 months.

Before April, I met with the 9 teachers involved and discussed the programs. I brought them some seeds, so that the children could start growing things in their classrooms for the communal beds, which are for donation. April’s program featured a tour of the garden, sampling and digging for worms. All 3 programs are conducted in stations, so that the 3 groups rotate around the garden and Seniors only have a maximum of 10 children at a time. The students are so engaged that there are no discipline problems. They sample and dig every month, since those are popular activities. The classes learned that Tools Are Cool in May and will find that The Garden is an Ecosystem in June. The students will have a collection of information about the garden and their park by July, and we all will have had a lot of experiences there and a lot of fun.

Funds donated now surpass my budget, so the GardenPals will decide what to do with the extra monies. I’m hoping to take them out for a great dinner, which I feel they will deserve after hosting a total of 600 students in 3 months. My monthly reports to the parties involved serve to update the supporters and share with them how we are successful, so that they can feel included and proud. GardenPals has received a hand-written note of congratulations from B.C. Provincial Education Minister, Shirley Bond. The teachers appreciate the knowledgeable volunteers found in the GardenPals and the hands-on programs. The principal is interested in keeping the programs going after this spring. Some children remember the GardenPals’ names; some are using tools for the first time ever; all of the children love to come to the garden. These are all parts of the sweet success of this pilot project and I wonder where it is going as it takes on a life of its own. The evaluation forms filled in by Seniors, teachers and students at the end will guide us in the next step, so we will have to wait for the results.

Submitted by Carol Sim, Horticultural Therapist.

Malaspina University-College 

The first Horticultural Therapy Diploma in Canada is now available at MUC! The Diploma of HT contains a one year Horticulture Technician Certificate, a one year Community Support Worker course work and 6 weeks of Horticultural Therapy. Please check out the MUC website www.mala.bc.ca , click Health and Human Services and then HT Diploma for more information.

In July 2007, MUC had their first 4 HT Diploma graduates in Canada!! We have 7 more students now enrolled to graduate in 2009!!

Vancouver Island Health Authority 

The pilot project internship with Tracey Veldhuis is coming to an end at Westhave Lodge September 2007.  Tracey has done a great job in establishing a participant led HT program, establishing the HT as an equal health care professional with staff, playing a consulting role and relaying the wishes and needs of the participants in the design of the new therapeutic garden, documenting the stages of development, charting changes in the participants, creating a referral form that accurately describes HT and the program and educates family and healthcare professionals in HT.  Thank you Tracey for all your hard work!

Well done Tracey!!

Community Circle Growers

 

The Community Circle Growers was formed in Jan 2006 in response to a group of persons concerned 

• with not having fresh organic produce available to the greater community
• with farmers wanting to farm but not having the human resources to continue

Mandate

To connect persons willing to share land and agricultural knowledge and needing additional labour with persons interested in learning agriculture practices and a supply of organic vegetables.

During the summer of 2006, this small group of 8 met every Tuesday morning at Cobble Hill Organics to grow vegetables, socialize, gain knowledge and take home fresh organic vegetables.  The success of this group led to a successful program called Field to Table facilitated by Cowichan Community Kitchens and funded by the City of Duncan. The Community Circle Growers will continue their mandate this coming year offering the opportunity to community to learn and grow your own food. This year coming up will see students of OUR EcoVillage join members of the Circle Growers to learn firsthand organic growing techniques.

The Circle Growers will also be offering community development philosophy of inclusion and bottom up individual management techniques This manner of community participation invests in the participants without the usual hierarchical management that contributes to an exclusion model of community development.

Communities in Bloom, Drumheller Alberta

As a result of Patricia Parker’s completion of the HT Certificate, her vision and hard work, the Drumheller Penitentiary is now including an HT program to compliment the Horticulture program that Trish developed over the last 10 years. Further to this, is yet another off shoot within the Drumheller community. In the fall I was asked to speak about HT to the Drumheller community and to begin a community project development process that beautifies Drumheller in an inclusive manner.

The project grew from the idea of giving ex-prisoners of the penitentiary an opportunity to be more included in community through the creation of a community garden. That in itself is inspirational.!

Under Trish’s supervision, prisoners already contribute to Drumheller by maintaining public garden areas so the next step to inclusion would made upon release. But the project has become more now. I am happy to say that the emphasis is no longer providing opportunities to prisoners but providing organized beautification projects and opportunities that will meet the needs and utilize the assets of all Drumheller community members.

The project is no longer one of “them” and “us”, but now one of “all of us”!

Columbia Valley Botanical Gardens and Centre for Sustainable Living

This organization is very vibrant in the Columbia Valley of British Columbia! I met with Bill Swan and Alison Candy, consultants to this organization in Banff in January to learn of a community greenhouse project located at the David Thompson High School in Invermere and the possibility of 20 acres on which to create a community resource in the form of a working farm. The organization is very interested in hosting the Home Farm Horticultural Therapy Certificate to fuel the notion of using horticulture as a community development tool. View the Columbia Valley Botanical Gardens and Centre for Sustainable Living website for more information http://www.conservancy.bc.ca/CVBG/.