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Research continues to affirm what you like already sense intuitively: therapeutic gardens work best when the people who will use them help shape them. A recent paper, From Yard to Healing Garden: The Role of Participatory Design in Shaping Therapeutic Landscapes (Saavedra & Covarrubias, 2026), highlights a clear pattern. When direct users are meaningfully included […]
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If you’ve ever felt your shoulders drop after putting your hands in soil, or noticed how a few minutes of watering plants can quiet a racing mind, you already know something about why horticultural therapy (HT) works. But when we’re trying to explain this work to others, or convince organizations and funders that it’s worth […]
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My horticultural interests (even before I found HT) have always pulled me toward herbs more than any other plant group. There’s something about their immediacy, their generosity, and their sensory richness that keeps me coming back. If I’m planning a new program or walking through a garden deciding what to bring into a session, herbs […]
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When people start thinking about horticultural therapy (HT) contracts, the focus often jumps straight to logistics: Where can I work? Who might hire me? What should I charge? Those are important questions, and ones that this blog can’t really even begin to answer, but in my experience, they land much better after you’ve spent time […]
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Explore a collection of winter HT program ideas to support connection, creativity, and goal-driven horticultural therapy practice.
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For a field that uses the words therapist and therapy, documentation is an essential aspect of professional practice. And yet, it’s one of the areas many practitioners feel the least confident in, or the most pressed for time with. I absolutely relate to that. Documentation can feel intimidating, or like something that happens after the […]
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Starting out in horticultural therapy, or any self-employed therapeutic practice, can feel a little like wandering through a forest without a map. When I first began, I said yes to almost any contract that came my way. At the time, it felt like progress, but in reality, it caused a lot of stress, and looking […]
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Explore a collection of winter HT program ideas to support connection, creativity, and goal-driven horticultural therapy practice.
Read It
For a field that uses the words therapist and therapy, documentation is an essential aspect of professional practice. And yet, it’s one of the areas many practitioners feel the least confident in, or the most pressed for time with. I absolutely relate to that. Documentation can feel intimidating, or like something that happens after the […]
Read It
Starting out in horticultural therapy, or any self-employed therapeutic practice, can feel a little like wandering through a forest without a map. When I first began, I said yes to almost any contract that came my way. At the time, it felt like progress, but in reality, it caused a lot of stress, and looking […]
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This blog post describes a day in the life of a Horticultural Therapist (HTR) working in a few different settings- and all the in between! For me, my weeks have taken many shapes over the years. Right now, I work across four different sites, each for a full 6–7.5 hour workday.
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HT & TH at Evanmorr Acres- Farm-Based Horticultural Therapy This fall marked the close of my first year facilitating Horticultural Therapy (HT) and Therapeutic Horticulture (TH) programming with the Nanaimo Association for Community Living (NACL) at Evanmorr Acres. It has been both the fulfillment of a long-term goal and a beautiful learning curve that has […]
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When I talk about Horticultural Therapy with someone new to the field, I’m usually met with excitement and curiosity. People get it. Many feel the pull toward nature-based work or interventions. But then come the practical questions: “How do you convince organizations this is worth funding?” “How do you demonstrate the value?” “How can someone […]
