Even though I have tarried in updating this blog, I've been seeking out ways to learn more about gardening and sustainability.
Last March I went to a workshop at the American Counseling Association Conference about ecotherapy. This was the first I had heard of ecotherapy. It was there that I found out about Richard Louv's inspiring book, Last Child in the Woods. I found myself wondering why I hadn't heard of this concept before. Last November, I attended a workshop called "Earth, Art, and Therapy" sponsored by the Georgia Art Therapy Association. It was at this workshop (held at the East Lake Commons Co-Housing Community) that I first heard the term "permaculture." It was such a revolutionary idea to me and makes so much sense. I've signed up to attend a workshop called "Introduction to Permaculture" sponsored by Georgia Permaculture on March 13, 2010. What is Permaculture?
I've even been considering enrolling at a local community college to take horticulture classes and been researching what it takes to become a horticultural therapist. I'm really excited about this. I grew up with cows in my front & backyard, shelled purple-hulled peas and shucked corn most summers with my paternal grandparents. My grandmother loved the earth and even when she was wheel-chair bound, she loved to have me push her around her 6 acres of land to point out her crepe myrtles, apple trees, sweet gum bushes and her most-loved roses. This picture is of us in April 2006.
For me, all these things are coming together. Prior to these workshops, I've tried to integrate the earth into my therapy practice with kids, it just has not been large scale or really very practical. Up until now, the extent of this has been having clients paint or decorate terra cotta pots and plant either seeds or bulbs. If you know me well, you know I work as a mental health therapist though a federally-funded grant program called Success for All Students in select Cobb County Schools. I provide therapy in the school system for youth who would otherwise not have the means. Being a grassroots effort, I have a great deal of creative leeway. This combined with the current zeitgeist has synchronized into a program I am calling "Seeds of Hope."
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SEEDS OF HOPE:
Funded by a federal Safe Schools/Healthy Students grant, Success for All Students (SFAS) has partnered with Ford Elementary School in Acworth, GA to provide an innovative, alternative family therapy program called “Seeds of Hope.” The program utilizes ecotherapy and horticultural therapy techniques and principles within the context of Multi-Family Group Therapy (MFGT) to provide families an opportunity for growth and healing through experiences in a school-based community garden.
Gardens have been used for health and healing for thousands of years. Over two thousand years ago, Chinese Taoists created gardens and greenhouses they believed were beneficial for health. Natural landscapes have been a part of hospital treatment since the 1870s. By the 1970s, Kansas State University established the first horticultural therapy degree curriculum. Increasingly, research is showing that exposure to nature yields great emotional health benefits for children. A 2003 Cornell University study noted “the protective impact of nearby nature is strongest for the most vulnerable children—those experiencing the highest levels of stressful life events.”
This initiative is collaborating with an established, school-based outside classroom and school garden program to offer families a vehicle for hope and healing. SFAS has funded the building of four new organic growing beds in the newly established community garden section of the garden specifically designated for mental health treatment.
“Seeds of Hope” is a Multi-Family Therapy Group for families experiencing a significant loss or adjustment in their lives. This modality promotes feelings of universality and connection with other families and the earth, provides hope, facilitates discussion, and builds insight, healing and connection. These benefits are reaped within each family system, among families present in group and within the larger community through participants donating a portion of their harvest to a community food bank.
“Seeds of Hope” is an innovative approach to fostering connections among schools, families and communities. While ecotherapy and MGFT have successfully been utilized in residential settings, fusing these concepts through school-based mental health allows for the creation of a cutting-edge way to reach out and provide hope and healing to families.
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I plan on continuing learning about these topics to further my ability to offer hope and healing to families and individuals through earth-based sustainable practices. <3
