Becoming connected to inspirational people – The Wonky Artist
Recently I was fortunate to come across Rachel (aka The Wonky Artist) while I was researching about Shakespeare’s garden. I am now the proud owner of one of her paintings, namely ‘Anne Hathaway’s cottage’, which I bought for sentimental reasons, having grown up in Warwickshire.
Rachel has used art to help her deal with her spinal injury. Please check out her website shop and become inspired as I was.
Lynne
‘Gardening makes you feel better’, according to the Macmillan cancer support charity and this will delight many Occupational Therapists and other allied health professionals who use gardening as an effective treatment to ease anxiety, pain and distress for those living with cancer and undergoing treatment.
Gardening is a great activity that can be undertaken alone or with a buddy and here are so many different areas to learn about and connect with, such that it has something for everyone.
When I started running gardening groups in an acute psychiatric unit, I was initially fascinated by the history of gardens in hospitals and then I moved on to the history of women and gardening, which pushed me into attending a number of courses.
The world of horticulture soon opened up to me and I was able to use my love of art with gardening activities to run group therapy sessions that really seemed to help people feel better.
More recently I have based my workshops and POP BOXes on the research evidence of the New Economics Foundation’s 5 Ways to Wellbeing, a framework useful for bringing some structure to the hugely complimentary subjects of gardening and art.
Living with any serious physical or mental illness is scary and takes some adjusting to. Finding a way to cope will differ from person to person but 5 key principles that can help when using gardening are:
All of these elements interact and are easy to achieve. Click here for some accounts of gardeners living with cancer. This month POP Gardens are going pink in support of Breast Cancer awareness month and supporting a small charity called Future Dreams – please check out their good work here.
It was great to meet so many enthusiastic health care staff at POP Garden’s & Gardening with Caroline’s Winter Workshop in January at Waterperry Gardens . We had fun during the day identifying winter plants and learning about our relationship with them through the arts and literature. Delegates enjoyed making masterpieces using January’s birth flower, along with Roses and foraged greenery!
Well done everyone.
Feedback from delegates included “Really enjoyable & informative” & “Great for inspirational references & new ideas. Thank you!”
This Creative Therapeutic Horticulture Course for Health and Care Professionals is a practical study day using social horticulture as a therapeutic medium; the March 12th 2020 course at Waterperry Gardens near Oxford will have a “Spring activities theme” and will run from 10:00 to 16:00. To book a place on this course, please click here.
This new POP Gardens course will enable participants to:
The course is to be delivered by POP Gardens’ OT Lynne Evans together with Speech & Language Therapist Caroline Cook and will include:
This course will be run on a number of dates throughout 2020 at both Waterperry Gardens near Oxford and at Chesterfield’s Staveley Centre. The activities selected for the courses are tailored for the four seasonal themes of Winter, Spring, Summer & Autumn.
Highlights from POP Gardens’ 2019/20 courses attendee feedback to date (from 54 respondents) include:
POP Gardens’ 12th September Therapeutic Horticulture Workshop for Health Professionals welcomed Caroline Cook, a former Speech and Language Therapist who has been delivering gardening therapy sessions in Yorkshire for 15 years; she joined Lynne to facilitate the workshop delivery.
We explored end of summer cultural activities such as seed saving and sowing and health professionals learnt how to extend these activities for a variety of client groups. Seed saving is a low cost yet rewarding activity for adults and children.
Perhaps the greatest benefit of seed saving is the sharing with others in your local community and it can be a way to preserve traditional seed varieties that otherwise might be lost! I would recommend watching “SEED THE UNTOLD STORY” to discover more about this very important topic. To join our seed circle, please contact us via the POP Gardens email. Further POP Gardens workshop dates will be announced within the next few weeks
This course is to be held in the Tin Room at Heartlands, Dunance Lane, Redruth, Cornwall, TR15 3QY from 10:00 to 16:00 on Thursday 5th September 2019. To see full details and to book a place on this course, please click here.
Health professionals discovered that plants are part of our day to day life. They are present in virtually all daily activities. Part of the day was spent looking at the relationship that people have with plants and nature and how this influences our cultural and artistic practices. We enjoyed a bit of poetry – ‘The Last Hedgehog’ by the brilliant Pam Ayres and thought about how poetry can be used therapeutically.
The afternoon practical session focused on the art of making hanging baskets and flower bowls. These beloved seasonal creations provide a comforting visual treat. We also delved into the world of seeds looking at associated creative activities, activity analysis and tried out a variety of seed sowing materials! We used a mixture of reliable and pretty flowers – petunias, calibrachoas, geraniums and verbenas as well herbs and dwarf beans.
You can find some of my personal favourite gardening related poems at the the Poetry Archive; these include The Trees by Philip Larkin, Summer of the Ladybirds by Vivian Smith, A Red, Red Rose by Robert Burns, Five Years Trying to Win the Flower Show & The Preservation of Flowers both by Julia Bird, Marigolds by Vicki Feaver and In the Tool Shed by Andrew Greig. There are also a fine collection of gardening poems in Jeremy Naydler’s book ‘Soul Gardening”; two I particularly like are I The Gardener & The Nettle in the Basil Pot.
I have also enjoyed reading the work of the poet & artist Edward Lear (1812-1888). This has inspired me to mix poetry and horticultural therapy. I loved his humourist take on people and plants and his simply brilliant sketches. This one below I have at home and it represents how chaotic and stressed individuals can present to Occupational Therapists whilst in recovery.
Finally, for more information on how occupational therapists help recover ordinary lives click here.
St Matthews Healthcare Northampton hosted a POP Gardens therapeutic horticulture workshop (16th April 2019) for their occupational therapists, therapy instructors, social workers and day centre staff.
The group learnt:
St Matthews staff have already used gardening for their clients and have big plans to utilise their outdoor spaces. Dedicated staff were highly motivated to learn during the day, a great bunch to work with.
Good luck and look after the gnome.
Health professionals and gardeners at the POP Gardens‘ therapeutic horticulture workshop were able to experience first-hand, the restorative effects of the lovely surroundings at Trebah Gardens in Cornwall on Tuesday 2nd April 2019.
Many thanks to Trebah Gardens for allowing the use of a room with a view of one of the UK’s most beautiful gardens!
Spring time therapy at Waterperry Gardens
Well done to all the brilliant and dedicated Occupational Therapists and Rehab Professionals who travelled from far and wide to attend POP Gardens’ Horticultural Therapy Workshop on the 26th March 2019.
Clinical staff from forensic & acute mental health, neuro rehab, CAMHS, paediatrics and hospice care learnt about how to sow self-pollinating sweetpeas, sunflowers and tomatoes and the benefits of saving these seeds.
These useful plants offer multiple therapeutic benefits, particularly for individuals who are receiving end of life care. We also covered offering a daily dose of nature from the plant trolley!
Keep up the good work girls, Beatrix Havergal would be proud.
We’ve received some great feedback on the course, including: “Everything was so useful – thank you so much”; “Enjoyed the planting & could see using the coir pots being useful. Great resources & course pack provided – Thanks”; “I loved the course – totally inspired & can’t wait to start/ continue.”; “The ideas for the trolley and bedside activities will be really useful.”; “All very useful & enjoyable & thought provoking.”; “Course content has all been useful.”; “This has been an amazing start to my STH journey. Will be keeping in touch”; “Really enjoyed the day & can’t wait to get on with our group”; “Really useful day for getting going with horticultural therapy with a whole range of settings. Thank you so much”; “You’ve done an amazing job. So pleased I managed to get on your course”.