Horticultural therapy offers physical, cognitive and emotional benefits
Kristian Partington

There’s something about working your hands through dark soil while nurturing the growth of a plant. Trina Alix has seen such natural, earthy connections inspire a man in a wheelchair to get up and walk, and she’s seen its calming effect on people for whom agitation is a near constant state of mind.

This Amaryllis plant is but one example of the work of the horticultural therapy program at The Village of Tansley Woods.

Twice weekly she runs the horticultural therapy program at the Villages of Tansley Woods and Riverside Glen, and she says she gets as much from the program as the residents she works with.

“We’re absolutely losing our connections to the natural world,” Trina says, adding that working with plants and flowers is a way for older adults to recapture connections most had throughout their early years.

Older generations were more likely to grow their own food, and many residents in long-term care or retirement homes fondly recall the links they had with the earth and plants that grew to nourish their bodies.

Horticulture therapy is a way to recapture those links.

Trina recalls the gentleman who stood from his wheelchair. He could stand, yet it was something he rarely did. Out in the garden, however, with his chair close to the raised bed of flowers and vegetables, he was inspired to get up and move closer.

She watched as he gently caressed the plants and worked his hands through the soil, a smile of contentment upon his face.

“It was something he hadn’t done in a long time,” she says.

It’s one of many moments Trina’s experienced that affirms her belief in the power of horticulture therapy to help people physically, cognitively and emotionally.

She saw it years ago when working at the Cambridge Butterfly Conservatory, then called Wings of Paradise.

People would walk through the lush gardens taking in the sense of calm they inspired, and she began to realize there was something about a connection to nature that was of great benefit.

She studied horticulture therapy and did an internship at Guelph ’s Homewood Health Centre, where therapy for addiction and mental health is on offer.

Five years later, she’s a fixture in the villages she serves, proud to work with seniors as they nurture and grow a healthy connection to the natural world.

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