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Purpose and Intended Users:

• Researchers – Access peer-reviewed studies, case studies, and meta-analyses to support further academic work.
• Practitioners – Find evidence-based strategies and interventions for therapeutic horticulture programs.
• Educators – Utilize research findings for curriculum development in HT/TH and related fields.
• Policymakers & Funders – Review data on program effectiveness to support policy initiatives and grant funding.
• Healthcare Professionals – Explore intersections between HT/TH and allied health disciplines such as occupational therapy, physical therapy, nursing, social work, and counseling.

About Root in Nature

At Root in Nature, we strengthen human health by connecting people with plants and nature through therapeutic horticulture, and we do it while empowering the professionals who make this work possible.

We know that many allied health professionals are seeking to integrate nature into their therapeutic practices, but we also recognize the real-world barriers. That’s why we’re building a different kind of path.

Root in Nature offers accessible, affordable, and practical training. Through our growing suite of online courses and our international community—the GrowTH Network (Grow Therapeutic Horticulture)—we help practitioners feel confident, supported, and equipped to create engaging, client-centered therapeutic gardening programs.

Visit the Root in Nature homepage to take a short quiz and find resources tailored to your needs on your therapeutic horticulture journey.

The post Horticultural Therapy & Therapeutic Horticulture Research Database appeared first on Care Farming Network.

Research is discovering all the different ways that nature benefits our well-being, health, and relationships.

By Kristophe Green, Dacher Keltner | March 1, 2017

Humans have long intuited that being in nature is good for the mind and body. From indigenous adolescents completing rites of passage in the wild, to modern East Asian cultures taking “forest baths,” many have looked to nature as a place for healing and personal growth.

Why nature? No one knows for sure; but one hypothesis derived from evolutionary biologist E. O. Wilson’s “biophilia” theory suggests that there are evolutionary reasons people seek out nature experiences. We may have preferences to be in beautiful, natural spaces because they are resource-rich environments—ones that provide optimal food, shelter, and comfort. These evolutionary needs may explain why children are drawn to natural environments and why we prefer nature to be part of our architecture.

Now, a large body of research is documenting the positive impacts of nature on human flourishing—our social, psychological, and emotional life. Over 100 studies have shown that being in nature, living near nature, or even viewing nature in paintings and videos can have positive impacts on our brains, bodies, feelings, thought processes, and social interactions. In particular, viewing nature seems to be inherently rewarding, producing a cascade of position emotions and calming our nervous systems. These in turn help us to cultivate greater openness, creativity, connection, generosity, and resilience.

Read the full article here

The post What Happens When We Reconnect With Nature appeared first on Care Farming Network.

Veterans experience higher risks of suicide and mental health disorders due to the traumas of military service, disabilities, and the difficulties of reassimilation into civilian life. Therapeutic interventions using human-animal interactions have shown promising results in reducing many risk factors affecting veterans’ quality of life. This quality improvement project sought to consider if veterans participating in a recreational therapy program focused on beekeeping and administered by the Department of Veteran Affairs would experience quality of life improvements using a standardized EQ-5D-5L assessment. Our results indicate significant changes in mobility, anxiety/depression, and overall health for veterans participating in beekeeping as a recreational therapy. Implications for practice and future research are presented. 

Authors:

• Valerie Carter Manchester VA Medical Center, New Hampshire
• Adam Ingrao Michigan Food and Farming Systems
• Jessie L. Bennett University of New Hampshire
• Christine Gould Manchester VA Medical Center, New Hampshire

The post Healing Hives: Exploring the Effects of Beekeeping on Veteran Mental Health and Quality of Life appeared first on Care Farming Network.

What are care farms? Simply put, a care farm involves the therapeutic use of farming practices to facilitate healing. Also known as green care or therapeutic farming, care farming is supervised and structured, providing “farming-related activities for individuals with a defined need.” These activities include things like animal husbandry (livestock, small animals, poultry), agriculture, horticulture, woodland management, produce collection, craft-making, woodworking, garden tending, habitat restoration, and more.

Care farms provide structured and supervised care services, usually as part of an educational or rehabilitative program. They have been found to be successful for a variety of vulnerable groups, such as people with mental health problems, people suffering from mild to moderate depression, adults and children with learning disabilities, children with autism, people with a drug or alcohol addiction history, disaffected youths, and people on probation.

Read Dr. John LaPuma’s blog post…

The post What Are Care Farms? appeared first on Care Farming Network.

Presenters:

Shawn Hayden of GAAMHA, R.O.O.T.S at Evergreen Grove (MA) View Presentation Here!

John Knutsen of ServiceNet Inc. (MA) View Presentation Here!

The post Measuring the Impact of Care Farming appeared first on Care Farming Network.

INTRODUCTION

GPs face considerable challenges in accessing effective treatment options for patients with depression and anxiety.^1,2 Antidepressant use has been rising steadily since the early 1990s and GPs have been accused of over-prescribing, with approximately 70% of depressed patients in primary care being prescribed antidepressants.³ National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidance recommends reductions in prescription of antidepressants and increased access to talking therapies.⁴ However, the flagship government programme Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) currently has long waiting lists and inconsistencies across clinical commissioning groups (CCGs). Furthermore, even when patients do receive their therapy, approximately 50% of anxious and depressed patients do not recover.⁵

WHAT IS CARE FARMING?

Care farming (or ‘social farming’) is a type of green care intervention and has been defined as the use of commercial farming and agricultural landscapes to promote mental and physical health through normal farming activity.⁷ Essentially, these are farms where different client groups can participate in a variety of farming activities under the supervision and support of the skilled farmer and their team. There are currently around 230 care farms in the UK providing health, social, and educational care services for a wide range of client groups including people with mental ill health, learning disabilities, autism, and dementia.⁸ Care farming is active across much of Western Europe.

WHY MIGHT IT WORK?

Although care farming is an overtly practical approach, various theories suggest a sophisticated and subtle web of social, mental, and physical interactions providing a potentially potent complex intervention. One theory with particular resonance for care farms that has also been applied to horticulture therapy⁹ is the concept of recovery.¹⁰ Here, recovery concepts are combined with those from other social and ecological theories to help explain the potential effectiveness of care farms for those with mental ill health.

• Being socially connected. Working on the farm provides a non-threatening opportunity for social interaction. The focus on the work of the farm means that connections with others are not the focus of the activity, but rather a by-product. For those suffering from mental ill health this can take the pressure off social interactions. The attention is no longer solely on the individual but instead on working together on the task at hand. Where these tasks involve giving attention to the needs of animals and plants there is the opportunity to regain the ability to care and consider others, a vital function for healthy human relationships. Furthermore, interaction with animals is already established as a mechanism for reducing stress and anxiety.
• Personal growth. It allows the opportunity to build skills and, importantly, gain the self-efficacy that comes from learning and implementing these skills. Gaining such skills can bring a sense of hopefulness so vital to mental health recovery. Some care farms provide opportunities for taking these skills a step further to qualifications that can provide a vital stepping stone to employment and recovery.
• Physical activity. The links with physical activity and mental health are well established. Working on a care farm provides ample opportunity for physical activity. It has the advantage that it is not undertaken purely for the purpose of doing something physical, but instead is performed, almost unconsciously, as part of ordinary farm activities. Feeling physically tired at the end of the day is frequently highlighted by those attending care farms as a positive aspect, helping them to sleep and providing a sense of achievement.
• Restorative effects of nature. The fact that this physical activity can be done in nature adds to its effectiveness, reducing feelings of stress and leading to a sense of calm.¹¹ Although care farms offer this opportunity to be in nature, they go further, as those on the farm have to get their hands dirty and work with nature. Theories of mental health and recovery frequently identify the concept of being able to rest and restore attention. Care farms provide this opportunity to engage in an activity, whether it is planting vegetables or tending to livestock, which requires concentration and attention but does not require intense thought. This process of non-taxing engagement allows the mind to relax, reducing the constant bombardment of worries and concerns that are such a feature of mental ill health. Working with nature in this way provides the mental space needed to regain the ability to focus attention on more taxing tasks.

Care farming sits within the third sector, supporting multiple client groups. Perhaps as a consequence the research on effectiveness has lacked the robustness required to secure its place as a recognised healthcare intervention. For example, the few quantitative studies that have been conducted are characterised by small sample sizes and limitations in design, thus providing unreliable evidence of effect. A similar picture emerges for other green care interventions including, for example, therapeutic horticulture where there have been more attempts to conduct randomised trials with some tentatively promising results.¹² Within care farming, qualitative studies have shed light on the experiences of those attending care farms, highlighting the reasons why care farms can potentially improve mental health.¹³ Care farmers themselves are often a key ingredient in the success of the care farm in supporting those with mental ill health. Qualitative studies frequently identify this relationship as key to positive experiences on the farm. Care farmers act as non-judgemental mentors, supporting clients to develop skills to undertake the routine farming tasks.

The post Green fingers and clear minds: prescribing ‘care farming’ for mental illness appeared first on Care Farming Network.

The discussion featured inspiring presentations from two researchers in the care farming movement

Rebecca Calisi Rodriguez of Green Care Lab (CA) (Green Care Lab Presentation)

Jamie Tanner of Simple Sparrow Care Farm (TX) (Simple Sparrow Care Farm Presentation)

Watch the recorded presentation:

The post What’s New in Care Farming Research? Exploring the Latest Findings + Impacts appeared first on Care Farming Network.

Guest Host: Jamie Tanner 

When the weight of the world feels so heavy, perhaps your restoration can be found outside in the welcoming of “almost” spring on a care farm. In this episode, we are joined by Jamie Tanner, the brilliant mind behind Simple Sparrow Care Farm, as she shares about the incredibly supportive environment that farm life can provide. Certified in trauma-informed Care and backed by evidence-based research, she shares about the flourishing that can occur by taking some space for cultivation and renewal.  

Websites and Resources mentioned: 

• www.simplesparrow.farm 
• www.Carefarmingnetwork.org 

The post A History of Care Farming: A Podcast with Simple Sparrow Care Farm appeared first on Care Farming Network.

A research paper published in 2020 by Richard Gorman (Brighton and Sussex Medical School, UK) and Joanne Cacciatore (School of Social Work, Arizona State University, USA) which shares the benefits of care farming for people experiencing traumatic grief, based on a survey of 120 participants at a care farm in the southwestern US.

Abstract: “Care-farms are increasingly utilized as a means of providing care, support, and therapy for a wide range of different populations, enabling people to cultivate social, physical, mental, and emotional well-being. This study explores the impacts of a care-farm intervention for traumatically bereaved individuals, a population at high-risk of poor physical and psychological outcomes. The study examines how a care-farming model can enable and encourage participants to cultivate healthy and sustainable lifestyles. Following their participation in a care-farming intervention, bereaved parents, siblings, and spouses described significant pivots toward healthier eating, improved sleep outcomes, and increased physical activity. Our results indicate that care-farming may have potential to influence positive changes to health and health behaviors that last beyond the intervention period.”

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