Canadian Horticultural Therapy Association

Links

	HorticultureAsTherapy.com Mitchell Hewson, HTM manages the Horticultural Therapy (HT) department at Homewood Health Centre. Located in Guelph, Ontario, this centre hosts the largest and longest-running horticultural therapy program in Canada offering HT programs to more than 200 patients per week. Since 1974, Mitchell has been promoting the field of HT through lectures, articles, workshops and internships.
	Because the path for students in this field is predominantly self-directed, Emma Rooney from Garden Route Therapy decided to keep a blog to capture her journey as a horticultural therapy student in Canada. This well documented and photographed space provides a chance for reflection on the process, feedback and sharing experiences along the way. Once you’ve visited Emma, her site grows on you and you’ll return often to get your prescribed dose of HT!
	Helping Nature Heal Rosmarie Bradley-Lohnes of Helping Nature Heal is the only certified HT practitioner (in training) in the Maritimes. She leads workshops and classes on HT and uses it in group activities and projects such as the program she has developed for Second Story Women's Centre.
	Guelph Enabling Garden The Guelph Enabling Garden offers a unique, barrier-free place in the city where community members of all ages and abilities can participate in therapeutic gardening activities. Weekly Horticultural Therapy teaching sessions are offered throughout the summer to promote physical, emotional, and spiritual health & well-being.
	Cobourg Ecology Garden As you travel along one of the wide, accessible & meandering pathways at the Cobourg Ecology Garden (CEG) you will soon find yourself entering the ‘Ability Garden’ aka Raised Bed area. Direct access to this special part of the CEG is possible due to a recent installation of a ramp from the boardwalk which borders the south side of this little piece of heaven. Gardening is possible for all here with raised beds that are made to work with the gardener’s ability. And sensory stimulation via sights, scents, textures, sound and even taste are around each new turn!
	City Farmer - Urban Agricultural Notes - Published by City Farmer, Canada's Office of Urban Agriculture
	The American Horticultural Therapy Association is a champion of barrier-free, therapeutic gardens that enable everyone to work, learn, and relax in the garden. Horticultural therapists are skilled at creating garden spaces that accommodate people with a wide range of abilities. People with physical or mental disabilities benefit from gardening experiences as part of HT programs, and they learn skills, adaptations, and gardening methods that allow for continued participation at home or work.
	Thrive Using Gardening to Change Lives: Thrive is a national charity, founded in 1978, that makes use of gardening (social & therapeutic horticulture) to change the lives of people with disabilities. Using the wonderfully flexible medium of gardening this organization assists individuals in accomplishing many things. Some may be immediately apparent, such as rebuilding strength after an accident or an illness, or providing a purposeful activity which helps people to cope with a difficult period in their life. Some may be less obvious such as helping to improve literacy through a simple task such as labeling a plant or reading a seed packet. And then there are those participants who simply want to enjoy gardening but need practical advice and skills to get started or to progress.
	Providence Farm - A Therapeutic Community For co-founders Jack Hutton and Sister Frieda Raab, Providence Farm was an answer to a growing lack of resources for people with social, physical and mental needs. For the members of Providence Farm, this beautiful 400 acres of land offers much more. Located at the base of Mount Tzouhalem in the Cowichan Valley of Vancouver Island, Providence Farm has healed and changed the lives of many through the power of working and caring for the soil. Offering one of Canada's few horticultural therapy programmes, the farm operates as a community caring and nurturing the land together, and as a result each individual is in turn healed.
	Catkin Gardens in Vancouver, BC, has been operated since 1978 by Ann Kent, Masters Level Horticultural Therapist (HTM), to design healing and habitat gardens for private clients, schools, and long term care facilities in south-coastal BC and to provide horticultural therapy services to families and frail elders. In 2006, Ann created a gerontology-based professional studies program in HT for Kwantlen University and is now the principal instructor for the Horticultural Therapy Certificate Professional Development Program in Vancouver, BC. Ann also coordinates an HT internship program to serve the growing need for qualified horticultural therapists in the Vancouver area.