Horticultural therapy

Horticultural therapy (also known as garden therapy or social and therapeutic horticulture) involves using gardening activities to promote human healing and rehabilitation.

History
Alice Burlingame and Donald Watson authored the first book on horticultural therapy, Therapy through Horticulture, published in 1960.

The first degree awarded for work in Horticultural Therapy was given in 1972.

In 1973 the Council for Therapy and Rehabilitation through Horticulture (NCTRH) was established by a group of horticulture therapy professionals. In 1988, they changed their name to the American Horticulture Therapy Association (AHTA).

Types of treatment
Goals and types of treatment vary depending on the facility using horticultural therapy. Institutions from schools and nursing homes to prisons utilize horticultural therapy to meet therapeutic needs. Each one of these facilities have different types of horticultural therapy, each with their own individual forms of treatment. Fundamentally horticultural therapy can be divided into three types of programming: Vocational, therapeutic, and social.

Vocational Horticultural Therapy
Vocational Horticultural Therapy is intended to teach skill and enhance behaviors that can be used in a job or workplace. People undergoing vocational therapy can learn skills involving greenhouses, vegetable gardening, tree and shrub care, as well as learn about plant production, sales and services. Activities vocational therapy teaches consists of how to repot, water, and move plants within their space. Learning the basic knowledge of their plants root system and the care different plants need is taught at their own pace. Ultimately aimed at employment, vocational horticulture therapy teaches people how to grow and work with plants while also learning the benefits of supporting themselves mentally and financially.

Therapeutic Horticultural Therapy
Therapeutic Horticultural Therapy has its focus on medical and illness recovery. The central belief that therapeutic horticulture therapy revolves around is that being in nature has restorative properties. Therapeutic horticulture might be used to try and  improve physical activity, social skills and engagement. Activities encompassed by therapeutic horticulture vary widely, some activities include: digging and watering, making observations about plant growth and change, relating plant life cycle to human life, and starting seeds.

A systematic review and meta-analysis of research comparing horticultural therapy with usual care and other non-pharmacological interventions for individuals with dementia found that participating in certain types of horticultural therapy activities appeared to improve cognitive functioning, agitation, positive emotion and engagement scores when compared to usual care and other non-pharmacological interventions.

Social Horticultural Therapy
Social Horticultural Therapy is focused on leisure activity and enhancement of life quality. Unlike therapeutic horticultural therapy, social horticultural therapy is more likely to be activity based.