Once a week I work with a group of clients who get me so tickled. Recently, I asked one of them how many children she has and she said “15,000” confidently. Those of us who heard tried to hide our smiles. We weren’t mocking her, of course, because it was a result of her condition. …
Read more “A sense of belonging, feeling seen and heard: what clients need”
Our research on “The Effects of Therapeutic Horticulture on Student Well-being and Academic Resilience” at the University of Florida has been published in Frontiers in Psychology! Research findings demonstrated that students who took part in at least 8 weeks of therapeutic horticulture programming experienced significant reductions in stress and anxiety, and significant improvements in resilience …
This month we conducted a series of therapeutic horticulture sessions at the National University of Singapore, with the goal of improving personal wellbeing through self-compassion and mindfulness. Activities were purposefully designed to facilitate opportunities to practice these while interacting with plants, and to talk/ponder about the hard stuff. It was an honour to be a …
Several years ago I ran a gardening programme for youths at risk in a local secondary school. We didn’t use the term “therapeutic horticulture” then, but the teacher who engaged me and I were clear that the goal of the programme wasn’t centered around the food we would grow, but the youths. The intention was …
Siang Yu was awarded the Florida Horticulture for Health Network 2024 Professional Service Award in recognition of her demonstrated versatility, scholarship and a willingness to undertake any task that was required to make the network successful. Thank you Florida Horticulture for Health Network for the award!
“I don’t like the ones who came after you. I didn’t like the ones before you.” On my last day at the greenhouse, I said goodbye to one of the participants from our therapeutic horticulture program whom I haven’t seen in a long time and she ended up in tears. As programs and work engagements …
Earlier this Spring, an article about the therapeutic horticulture program led by Siang Yu at the UF Health Shands Psychiatric Hospital was published in Florida Horticulture for Health’s e-publication, Cultivate. Read the full article here.