by Sabrina Zottoli, LifeWay Social Worker
There are many benefits of horticultural therapy, either on its own or combined with something like CBD, providing that CBD oil law permits this. It has been shown to improve cognitive, psychological, emotional, physical, social and financial wellbeing. Here at Lifeway, horticultural therapy has been the spotlight of these past couple of months within our community in the safe houses.
Remember that a safe house is a space where each member of the community, including staff, residents, and visitors, can contribute to the enrichment and growth of one another. Each person that enters the environment commits to supporting one another through their presence. A garden is an example of a restorative space to foster healing. Healing is an important process, so whatever can be done to facilitate that is essential. As previously mentioned, people may combine this type of therapy with CBD and look at how they can Buy CBD gummies UK products to support this, or they may go the more clinical route and build on their therapy with counseling at the same time. Whichever way they choose, it is important that they do it for themselves and their journey.
Committed to healing modalities for survivors, LifeWay houses has the capacity for a garden with beautiful Wildflower Plants and make available proper equipment and items necessary for sustaining the garden. Considering the benefits of horticulture, many people decide to re-design their gardens by including specific areas for flower and plant beds, recreational areas, and a she shed for reading books, and gardening. Additionally, they usually light the garden with an array of lights, which include outdoor lamps and she shed lighting.
Additionally, in the last year, LifeWay supported me by granting me the funds and time to become certified in Horticultural Therapy. With this knowledge and tools, the survivors, staff, and host community, and myself began designing and building gardens in both safe houses. The garden in LW1, the St. Anne’s Garden, has been especially healing since it was created in collaboration with another resident who assisted in every detail and helped to nurture the project. The garden is dedicated to St. Anne and to a long-term partner of LifeWay Network. St. Anne is recognized for her healing presence, nurturing spirit, and pious service, fitting for LWN’s community which cultivates an environment of recovery for one another.
Without the residents, the garden would be difficult to maintain. Growing a variety of vegetables such as cucumbers, tomatoes, jalapenos as well as various flowers is not an easy task, and harder without great company. The effort is well worth it. One resident reported that Lifeway has had such a positive impact on her journey since she came into the safe house in March 2021. She stated, “This has felt like home for me since my first day. The staff takes their time to listen and communicate with me. I feel safe and heard at all times living here. Helping to pick out the vegetables and flowers meant a lot to me, like my opinion mattered, like I mattered. Sabrina and I spent hours ripping out all of the weeds then planting all the beautiful flowers and vegetables. We laughed, listened to music and enjoyed each other’s company.” This Resident went on to explain how positive it was on her emotional wellbeing. “I left my two children and family to come live here. I felt alone and my daily routine was absent. Knowing every day that I had to water the garden and tend to the plants gave me purpose to get out of bed. I started to see the growth in the flowers. I started to see the growth in the vegetables. Then I started to see the growth within myself. It’s really powerful to look back and see where I was in March to where I am now. I thank Lifeway for giving me the opportunity to live here, to feel safe, and to be able to express myself in a creative way.”