What is Horticultural Therapy?
HTP is based upon the premise that people have a basic psychological and evolutionary need to connect with plants and engage in plant-related activities that brings an individual into a more intimate and personal relationship with nature. Most horticultural therapy programs are based upon a medical model, that there is a disease or rehabilitation process that needs to be addressed. PLANT PROJECT®, however, dramatically departs from that premise, believing that a connection with our living environment enhances the individual’s quality of life, empower them, instills them with a sense of purpose and of their place in the world, fosters a sense of stewardship and reverses the effect of nature deprivation, which profoundly affects two of our most at-risk and vulnerable segments of the population: children with special needs and the elderly.
Our Program
The PLANT PROJECT® program is the seminal program of the Horticultural Therapy Program. The project has several components, aimed at different age groups and ability levels, but all components have the same mandate: to use plants and planting activities, environmental education and a connection with nature to enable individuals to function to the fullest of their abilities, to become and remain contributing members of society, to assume stewardship of natural resources, and to feel self-worth, achievement, and self-reliance to the best of the individual’s abilities. The PLANT PROJECT® program has two well-defined components already in place in four schools in two counties in Alabama: FOCUS (originally called PLANT and short for Finding Our Conservation, Use, and Sustainability) is aimed at high school students with special needs, and TWIGS™ (Touching, Wondering, Investigating, Growing, and Sensing) was developed for middle school level children with special needs.
Our mission revolves around three main goals:
- To advance and foster a reconnection with nature
- To engage in plant related activities that will promote self esteem, self reliance, and self respect
- To make this program available to all regardless of age, physical, or developmental limitations
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To donate to the program go to:
http://www.crowdrise.com/HorticulturTherapyPrograe/fundraiser/HorticulturalTherapyProgram
For more information please contact our office at (205) 264-8463
Program made possible by:
