RELATED READING > HORTICULTURAL THERAPY AS EMPOWERMENT

Hank Bruce & Tomi Jill Folk

We tend to think of horticultural therapy as an exercise in enabling those with limitations to take part in the gardening experience. In truth the benefits of a good therapeutic gardening program extend beyond simply enabling to become truly empowering. Learn more on how we can empower others in the garden.

A senior citizen enters a nursing home and there is a radical change in the perceived life style. A life filled with the dignity of meaning and responsibilities is now without purpose. An individual who had a sense of place, owned the role of provider, nurturer, care giver and protector now has a sense of powerlessness, hopelessness, confusion and loneliness. In an attempt to provide care and preserve health at all costs, we literally protect our elders to death. We deny them the ability to make decisions; we deny them the opportunity to be a responsible member of a community. We strip them of a meaningful existence. But this doesn’t have to be. Horticultural therapy can provide meaning and purpose.

A child is constantly told "No, don’t do that." or, "You can’t do that." When we finally convince the child that they are perpetually incompetent and never good enough we declare them an adult. When we constantly point out the failures and shortcomings of our young people we prepare them for a lifetime of blind obedience and chronic striving for the artificial success of material possession. This doesn’t have to be the legacy of one generation to the next. Horticultural therapy can provide positive self confidence in young people that will last a lifetime.

Victims of abuse are convinced that they possess no self-worth, that they deserve the abuse. Often the abuser is a product of the same sense of worthlessness. This can be a chronic cycle that is perpetuated from generation to generation. But it doesn’t have to be that way. We can break the cycle through horticultural therapy programs.

When we help to put meaning into someone’s life, regardless of their age or limitations, when we help others to discover self worth and their worth to friends, neighbors and strangers, when we open the doors of discovery or help to turn the pages of the mental photo album, we give the great gift of empowerment. We can do all of these things in the garden. Plants can be the common bond, the starting point, the lowest common denominator on the shared journey through life, and the shared exploration of the memories of the past, the experiences of the present and the hopes and expectations of the future. As horticultural therapists we can empower people to face life, discover themselves and share joy. This is a big part of the value in a horticultural therapy program, whether it is in a school or an Alzheimer’s daycare center, a cancer ward or a center for the developmentally disabled.

How we can empower others in the garden:

Making decisions is the most basic way to feel a sense of independence and value as a functional human being. We can let the participants chart the direction of their program, decide what they want to grow in their garden, or on their windowsill. Even if it is such a simple decision as selecting the color of the pot, or the cutting to start, we can let them make the decisions. Making decisions is empowering. Even if there are physical or mental limitations this decision making activity can be achieved with the use of a portable Cellugro Green Thumb Garden, or the Cellugro Abundant Harvest Garden as an accessible raised bed.

Experiencing success is also essential to the empowering feeling of self worth. Cuttings that root, seeds that sprout, plants that flower or fruit, vegetables to harvest are all simple, but significant and meaningful successes. Sometimes this is the only success in the life of a person who has been repeatedly told that he or she is a failure. Experiencing success is empowering. The almost failsafe gardening that the Cellugro system makes possible makes success a reality.

Nurturing is instinctive within us all. To be denied the opportunity to nurture and care for another living thing is demoralizing and destructive to one’s sense of personal worth and social value. When we help someone care for a plant or a garden, often through teaching the basics of plant care to help assure success we are empowering a fellow human being. To nurture is to feel a sense of worth, to empower with the knowledge that you can care for another living thing, and that it will respond.

Responsibilities and obligations are also an element of empowerment. When we help someone to understand the responsibilities of watering, pruning, pest control, and climatic extremes we are giving a life meaning and purpose. It is empowering to have purpose, a reason to live. The Cellugro gardens make it possible for almost everyone to accept these responsibilities and fulfill these obligations.

Sharing experiences is a means of affirmation. Whether it’s a one-on-one session in the garden, a family unit, or being a part of a community of gardeners, sharing time together with plants can open doors of communication, be a safe place to discuss fears and concerns, trigger memories or enjoy each other’s hopes and joys. Being comfortable enough to share both emotions and experiences is empowering; as is listening to each other. The Cellugro Green Thumb Garden is portable enough to be moved from room to room, greatly expanding the opportunity for sharing the joy and stimulating the senses.

Listening is a great gift. Telling the stories of yesterday’s garden, voicing the hopes for tomorrow’s flowers or talking about the experience of being with plants today is a way of establishing our sense of place. When we empower others through the gardening experience, we give them the confidence and freedom to tell their stories and reminisces. It is vital to listen. What a gift we give when we spend a few minutes listening. So often we feel we are on a time schedule and rush through answers to questions, or ignore opportunities to give someone an audience. When we listen to someone, even if the voice is labored or the thoughts come with difficulty, we are telling that individual that they have value, that they mean something to us. To simply listen is empowering to others because we make them teachers, entertainers and storytellers.

To give the gift of empowerment isn’t easy. First we must be sufficiently confident in ourselves to relinquish total control of the garden, the program and the moment. We have to let others make decisions and this may make our work more difficult, but it will make our success far greater. We will have to relax our time schedules to provide time for sharing and listening. But, as we encourage others to tell their stories, this becomes a learning experience for us and everyone else involved. The simple truth is that when we empower others, they in turn empower us. Everyone grows.


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