If you are new to Social and Therapeutic Horticulture and wondering where to start, you are in the right place. This page will guide you towards getting the skills, qualifications and experience to become an STH practitioner.
What does a day in the life of a STH Practitioner look like?
8.30 Arrive at garden, open tearoom, tool shed and prepare for day's activities. Check weather forecast, team/support/absence - revise plans?
9.30 clients arrive - greet them and enquire about health/mood etc. Discuss plans, set goals collaboratively. Plan B, C, D etc needed...
10.00 Collect tools and equipment and agree tasks for each person/group and begin activities. The Practitioner gardens alongside group, providing support, adapting tasks, dynamic risk assessment, managing group to maximise benefit for all.
LUNCH
1.00 further session or new group. Discuss plans and set to work
3.30 Wind down, clear up and discuss progress/review goals
4.00 Record notes, tidy up and prpare for next sessions, order seeds etc. Perhaps arrange supervision
What is a Social and Therapeutic Horticultural Practitioner?
Gardening, plants and nature connection offer a host of benefit documented in a growing evidence base. But these benefits are not accessible to all and may be particularly inaccessible to people with defined health, care, or support needs, who are often those who have most to gain from gardening and connecting with nature. People with identified needs, such as dementia, a mental health diagnosis, reduced mobility, or learning disability, are likely to have reduced access to the outdoors, and to garden spaces and activities, despite the evidence being clear that the benefits they experience can have many positive impacts for recovery and long-term health and wellbeing. STH practitioners enable people to get maximum benefit from gardening and nature connection and unlock the many therapeutic effects that garden spaces and activities can offer. This requires training and experience in horticulture, design, programming, and health and care skills to tailor services to peoples’ needs.
Training and Education
We are developing a checklist of skills and competencies for STH practitioners. This should serve as a helpful guide to consider the strengths and gaps in your skills and experience and direct you to appropriate training to improve your practice.
There are three columns of a knowledge, skills and experience that go into STH practice, and you may wish to consider getting training and experience in each of these areas:
Human Health
This area includes the skills and experience needed to work with people with a variety of health, care and support needs. This knowledge includes an understanding of human health, health conditions, disabilities, and changes related to human development and ageing. You should also understand person-centred care, and the importance of tailoring your work to the individuals and groups you are working with. In addition to this, a solid understanding of safe and ethical approaches to working with vulnerable individuals, and of child and adult protection processes is necessary. It is also important to understand the boundaries of your practice and the wider context of your work within Scottish health and social are systems.
Horticulture
An understanding of plants, and horticulture is necessary to allow you to effectively plan activities that will be of most therapeutic value to those you are working with. For example, choosing activities that are appropriate to your location, garden, and the season in which you are working will offer the best chance of successful outcomes. You should understand plant needs, basic botany, cultivation, and garden maintenance. In addition to this, you will need to develop an understanding of adaptive design allowing you to adapt gardens and indoor environments to those you are working with. This will also help ensure the activities you plan are accessible, and that the design of spaces takes into account of and maximises exposure to the therapeutic properties of plants and nature connection.
Social and Therapeutic Horticulture
This is a unique area of skills and knowledge in its own right and can be visualised as the areas of intersection between the horticulture and the health and care professions. In this area of crossover, both domains have to adapt to accommodate the needs and demands of the other profession. Social and Therapeutic Horticulture has a growing evidence base, with research developing worldwide. You should have an understanding of this evidence, the research base, and the health benefits evidenced by the research. In addition, you will need skills and knowledge in designing therapeutic horticulture programmes and sessions to suit a variety of people and groups, as well as the assessment, monitoring, and reviewing of programmes and their outcomes. You’ll need the skills to take care of the health and safety of the people you are working with, yourself and your colleagues, and you should be able to carry out dynamic risk assessments both for those you are working with and for the site you are working within.
How can I find training and CPD in the skills to practice Therapeutic Horticulture?
The role of an STH practitioner is to help people with defined health and support needs to get the best out of gardening activity to enhance their wellbeing and physical and mental health.
Many people who are active in therapeutic horticulture or keen to start practicing already work in health, care, education or community roles with their own particular qualifications and professional structures. People in this situation can acquire therapeutic gardening training and experience through a combination of formal and informal learning: 'on the job', CPD, online and in-person training, networking and good practice events, seminars and volunteering sessions at therapeutic gardening projects.
Trellis offers many opportunities through formal training and informal knowledge and skills sharing events as well as help to find your way into volunteering with projects in the Trellis network.
There are also range of therapeutic gardening courses available via Thrive.
Volunteering and Experience
A very worthwhile way of gaining experience is through volunteering or observing/work shadowing at a local therapeutic garden project. Please take a look at our Project Directory and contact projects directly to discuss opportunities with them.
Look out for gardening and outdoor volunteering opportunities locally. Take a look at our volunteering page.
Network Map and project directory
Use the Trellis map and directory of therapeutic gardening projects to find out more about projects near you, and even link up with them to learn more.
Looking for Horticulture Skills Training?
Formal qualifications in horticulture are a helpful foundation for your career in therapeutic gardening.
National colleges in Scotland such as SRUC and UHI provide horticulture courses at local colleges usually via hybrid online and presential teaching models. The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh also has a good range of courses, including their own bespoke courses, some validated externally by SRUC and Royal Horticulture Society options..
Find local colleges in Scotland on the College Development Network website, via the map link at the top of their homepage.
Search for colleges providing horticulture courses on the Grow Careers web pages and more information on support for careers in horticulture at the Institute of Horticulture which also presents webinars on horticulture. https://www.horticulture.org.uk/.
Check out the LANTRA website for other land-based training courses.
You might also be interested in learning on the job/apprentice style learning. The Working for Gardeners Association WRAGS programme is a unique way to learn about therapeutic horticulture.
Other training to consider would be on Child and Adult Support and Protection, Mental Health First Aid and general First Aid.
Next steps for the sector
Professional Development
Trellis began running a Professional Development Forum in 2021. We've now joined forces with Thrive to create the Association for Social and Therapeutic Horticulture, a professional body to register STH practitioners in the UK.
Current Vacancies
This page is a hub for therapeutic gardening jobs in the UK.
Click here to read an example of one persons career path.
Further careers path examples from Thrive and Grow Careers