Approach
In lives where labels carry stigma and discrimination, the only one we use in the garden is that of “gardener”
Our work takes a sociological approach by considering not just the individual benefits of therapeutic horticulture, but also the role therapeutic horticulture has in fostering a sense of belonging and inclusion at a social or community level. It does this with a view to better understanding the potential impact therapeutic horticulture can have on the social status of its participants, their wellbeing and the ways they meaningfully engage within it and why it is important.
Our projects principles remain the same across every project. To be:
- Strengths-based: Focused on capability and capacity.
- Person-focused: Individual needs and interests
- Rights-informed: Right to be in nature, right to be heard, right to have those ideas taken seriously and have them acted upon
- Trauma-informed: Established on the foundations of trust, reliability, accountability and transparency
- Evidence-based: Informed by evidence and best practice within the literature and on the ground
- Innovative: and often courageous in challenging dominant discourses and colonial theories and practices
- Collaborative: Privileging lived experience and practice knowledge