Horticultural Therapy: Using Gardening to Teach Life Skills to Inmates

Horticultural therapy (HT), as described by the American Horticulture Therapy Association, is not only an emerging profession, it is a time-proven practice. The therapeutic benefits of peaceful garden environments have been understood since ancient times. In the 19th century, Dr. Benjamin Rush, a signer of the Declaration of Independence and considered to be the "Father of American Psychiatry," reported that garden settings held curative effects for people with mental illness. Rehabilitative care of hospitalized war veterans in the 1940’s and 1950’s greatly expanded the practice of HT. Today, HT is recognized as a practical and viable treatment with wide-ranging benefits for people in therapeutic, vocational, and wellness programs. In 2006, Rock County UW-Extension partnered with the Rock County Sheriff Department’s RECAP (Rock County Education and Criminal Addictions Program) to facilitate an organized gardening program on the half-acre parcel of land adjacent to the community garden and nearby the jail facility.