Re: Growth — People & Plant Care Therapeutic Horticulture Workshop

In April 2023, as part of Sexual Assault Awareness Month, UCI CARE will be hosting an introductory therapeutic horticulture workshop. Each participant will receive a care kit containing a live plant, soil, various stress relief items, and tools specifically selected for UCI CARE members. People & Plant Care kits and workshops are a creative outlet to provide resiliency in times of stress, recovery, and healing. This workshop will be geared towards all who identify as survivors or are seeking tools for personal growth and restoration.

As we prepare for this event, one of CARE’s student assistants, Alexa Ceja, sat down with Joanna Brown of Restorative Horticultural Therapy, who will be leading this workshop, to learn more about her work. Joanna holds a certificate in horticultural therapy from the Horticultural Therapy Institute in Denver, Colorado and an interdisciplinary BA in humanities, social sciences, and environmental studies from the University of Central Florida. She is the owner of Restorative Horticultural Therapy and the founder of Horticulture For Healing, a non profit which advocates for horticultural therapy and therapeutic horticulture in under-served and under-represented communities. You can learn more at her business website or nonprofit website.

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AC: Tell us a little more about yourself and your healing journey.

JB: My personal healing journey and reconnection to nature began when I was in early recovery from addiction. I started navigating my mental health challenges, recognizing and beginning to heal from emotional and sexual trauma, facing my physical health, and discovering the necessity for wellness within recovery to heal, change and grow. I am proud to share that I am in continuous recovery. Opportunities to dive into emotional, physical and spiritual healing continue to arise and I am grateful to have been given tools which I now try to share with others.

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AC: How did you discover therapeutic horticulture as a form of healing and therapy?

JB: During my first year of recovery I went on a walk to clear my head. Acting on an intuition that at the time was very new, I decided to harmlessly clip a small piece from a very large cactus outside the place I was working. I took it home and planted it in a cup with some soil I collected outside my apartment. It simply felt good to have something green and growing in my space. Over the coming years my plant collection and reconnection with nature grew. Looking back, I clearly see that having this tiny plant in my safe and private space helped reorient my perspective towards myself and my place in the world.

Although I didn’t know it, I was practicing therapeutic horticulture. 9 years later I would start my nonprofit Horticulture For Healing, and more recently, my business Restorative Horticultural Therapy.

Rediscovering the rhythmic cycle of nature is something that grounds me in my recovery to this day. Honoring nature is part of my spiritual journey and an essential ingredient to healing. It helps us discover our true selves and the root of our experience as beings in this world.

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AC: What motivated you into becoming a Horticulture For Healing advocate?

JB: My motivation stems from the desire to provide a safe space and access to therapeutic horticulture for those who are under-served and under-represented, especially those who are in a time of displacement and transition.

All people deserve to have the opportunity to experience the people and plant connections regardless of race, gender, economic or cultural background. Access to therapeutic horticulture is needed more than ever so that we can heal ourselves and then in turn heal our planet.

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AC: How long have you been part of this project and the H4H Team?

JB: I started Horticulture For Healing in 2020 so a little over 3 years. I launched my business Restorative Horticultural Therapy in January 2023.

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AC: What positive effects have you seen in individuals who have considered trying out therapeutic horticulture as a healing or recovery method?

JB: I have witnessed people in recovery experience profound emotional and spiritual growth through discovering the people and plant connection. A woman I’ve worked with over the past few years shared with me recently that the plants she received from her sessions over two years ago are a part of her recovery today. She described how they mirror her own recovery journey, growing and changing just as she does.

During the COVID lockdown I led a series of virtual workshops at an alternative high school for girls in Immokalee, Florida. Each girl received a plant and care kit and then participated in virtual sessions. The school administration shared feedback that the participants took their plants home and continued to care for them long after the program ended. The participants really resonated with my self published People & Plant Care zines which were included in their kits.

Having something alive that is simple to care for reminds people to care for themselves. One participant stated that: “Someone else understood what I was going through and wanted to help me see my worth. I started to feel that I was someone worth caring for and who was lovable. Before I felt dead inside but I was becoming alive again like the plants.”

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AC: Tell us more about Horticulture Therapy and its benefits.

JB: The American Horticultural Therapy Association distinguishes between Therapeutic Horticulture (TH) and Horticultural Therapy (HT). Both hold a unique ability to support people in discovering the rejuvenating effects of people-plant connections while providing a full mind-body experience that aids in the process of mental health recovery and have been scientifically proven to help practitioners heal physically, emotionally, socially, and cognitively. Horticultural therapy assists each participant in reaching a unique and defined goal based on a previously diagnosed issue while actively participating in plant related activities. It is usually performed in collaboration with a clinical mental health professional. Therapeutic horticulture is what we will practice in the UCI CARE workshop. It is the process through which participants enhance their well being through active or passive involvement in plant and plant-related activities. TH supports participants who are seeking to improve overall health and well being where goals and objectives are not clinically defined. Studies on the use of HT and TH as a treatment medium for PTSD, anxiety, social isolation, survivors of power based violence, eating disorders, addiction, and even professional burnout are revealing extensive wellness benefits. Benefits of participation include: reducing social isolation, improved confidence, strengthened motivation, reduction of stress, a renewed sense of safety and establishing a sense of belonging.

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AC: What other methods, if any, did you utilize before finding horticulture as your way of helping others heal and recover?

JB: As a member of a 12 step community for the past 11 years I have informally supported others on their recovery journey through sharing my experience, strength and hope. Later while I was in university, I had an internship with an organization that provided Art Therapy at a shelter for people who are unhoused. I realized I had the ability within me to start my own nonprofit, which a few years later became Horticulture For Healing.

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AC: What would you like our UCI students to take away from this workshop?

JB: Therapeutic horticulture encourages cultivation of personal sacred space where one can ground and breathe, and find the inspiration and intuition to claim one’s space and recovery on their own terms. I would love for students to connect with the trustworthiness of their direct experience, and perceive that joy, peace and well being is present in every moment.

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AC: What other collaborations have you been a part of during your time as a Horticulture For Healing Advocate?

JB: Over the past three years I am proud to have worked with multiple residential treatment and transition homes for people experiencing substance use disorder, with alternative high schools for under-served teens, and with an organization for survivors of human trafficking.

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If you would like to learn more about horticulture therapy or talk with Joanna about her experience, we hope to see you at our People & Plant Care Therapeutic Horticulture Workshop on April 25th at 3PM. Please register for the workshop at the link.