Tree of Assets
My fall season started while at the Ignatius Jesuit Centre of Guelph, first coordinating a five day horticultural therapy practical training, directly followed by the Canadian Horticultural Therapy Association conference and annual general meeting. Magnificent golden days enriched this flurry of activity.
The Home Farm Horticultural Therapy Practical Training was hosted at the Julien Project, a charitable organization
using social and therapeutic gardening on the Ignatius Jesuit Centre property. Seven students, from different parts of Ontario and even an American visitor, came to the Project for an intense week of hands on learning. The site was ideal in that it provided a space to work directly with a diversity of populations in both a protected courtyard and field production plot in the community garden. There were lots of opportunities for experimenting with various activities, including wreath making, vegetable harvesting and creating seed mosaics and then a chance to debrief as a group the experience.
We also had the chance to visit a range of exemplary sites, from hospitals to farms, using 
gardening and nature for health promotion. The context and scale was always different but overall, students were most blown away by the passion of the individuals working at all these places.
For me personally, it was a joy to be able to share much of what I have acquired since I 
started on my own horticultural therapy journey and to introduce students to the Julien Project, a site where I have gained so much by volunteering with program delivery and now on the Board of Directors. The Julien Project has a vision to be a national teaching site for therapeutic gardening and horticultural therapy and the education week launched that work. It was also a great pleasure to work with Christine Pollard and Sharon Stewart, my teachers and mentors, to offer this program. The generous spirits of the students who participated made this an invaluable experience for us all. Thank you to all the risk takers…
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I also sit on the Board of the Canadian Horticultural Therapy Association and was excited that the location of this year’s conference would allow our members to experience the Ignatius Jesuit Centre and also be introduced more fully to the Julien Project. It was great to see how many new people were in attendance wanting to learn about this field and get connected. The Julien Project had a place to make a presentation at the conference about our process as a new organization building towards becoming sustainable, fitting with this year’s larger environmental theme. A reception held at the courtyard garden welcomed participants into this peaceful space.
On the Sunday, I made my own presentation about my area of passion and experience, children and youth and therapeutic horticulture. I wanted to create an interactive 
environment to explore the current context around gardening for young people and the potential role of therapeutic horticulture in this work. I believe their is a role to ensure that health promotion is more strongly incorporated and that the recognized health benefits move beyond the realm of obesity prevention. It felt appropriate to be having a lively discussion in our own outdoor classroom.
*Photo credit: Margaret Nevett for CHTA presentation capture (above)
