Naomi Sachs « Therapeutic Landscapes Network

Grassroots Healing Garden: The Serenity Garden at Transitional Housing, Inc.

January 30, 2008 | by Naomi Sachs

Before construction, on left, and after on right

Thanks to Robert Rensel for providing the images and text for this blog entry. For more images, go to the THI website: www.transitionalhousinginc.org/.

Transitional Housing, Inc. is a 62-unit facility in Cleveland, OH that provides temporary housing for women who have been homeless. Its mission is to provide a safe living environment while the women can work on and overcome the challenges that led to their homelessness.

The Men’s Garden Club of Greater Cleveland has about 70 members that share an interest in gardening. The Club provides scholarships to students entering a horticulture-related field and undertakes volunteer projects to beautify and improve our community.

The Serenity Garden

After observing that Transitional Housing’s units had no air conditioning and just asphalt for a back yard (see image below), the Men’s Garden Club proposed the installation of a therapeutic green space early in 2006. The boards of both organizations approved the project and funding was secured from the 1525 Foundation and Neighborhood Connections. Garden Club members worked with the women residents to develop a garden design that would meet their needs. The green industry was very receptive to lending a helping hand. Kurtz Brothers provided substantial in-kind support by removing a section of asphalt and providing soil, pavers and retaining wall blocks. Klyn and Willoway Nurseries provided preferential pricing on plant material and the Plastic Lumber Company discounted the benches made out of recycled material.

The design was finished in the spring of 2006. Plants were selected based on their soothing fragrances, appearances and textures. The sound of trickling water in the fountain adds to the serenity of the garden. The layout preserves a beautiful view of the city skyline. The hardscape was completed in the fall and the woody plants went in before year end. Perennials were planted in April and planter boxes and annuals are slated for June. A mural for the wall behind the fountain is being designed by the residents.

This is a terrific collaboration between a local garden club and a social service agency. Garden club members have an on-going commitment to work with the residents to maintain the garden. Women who are working to rebuild their lives now have a respite area in which they can find peace and healing. The quote going up on the dedication plaque says it all:

The kiss of the sun for pardon,
The song of the birds for mirth,
One is nearer God’s heart in a garden
Than anywhere else on earth.
~Dorothy Frances Gurney

The Virginia Thurston Healing Garden

January 23, 2008 | by Naomi Sachs

The Virginia Thurston Healing Garden is an educational non-profit, providing a community of support for women with breast cancer. The center is located on 8 acres of beautiful gardens, developed over 30 years by Virginia Thurston, a significant gardener and long-time leader in the Massachusetts Garden Club Federation. They are currently undergoing an expansion to their physical space and looking forward to the new center opening in June 2008. They are established leaders in complementary medicine and psychosocial support for cancer care. Please visit their website, www.healinggarden.net for more information and images.

ASLA Therapeutic Landscapes Research Initiative

January 22, 2008 | by Naomi Sachs

From LAND Online, the Landscape Architecture News Digest:

Healthcare and Therapeutic Design PPN Secures First PPN Initiatives Program Grant for Therapeutic Landscapes Research Initiative

“The Healthcare and Therapeutic Design Professional Practice Network (PPN) is the first recipient of a grant through ASLA’s PPN Initiatives Program. The Initiatives Program provides PPNs with financial resources for special projects that advance or promote the practice areas that the network represents. This initial grant is funding the Therapeutic Landscapes Research Initiative (TLRI). The TLRI, which began in spring 2007, is a compendium of current research on the health benefits of therapeutic landscapes.

The TLRI sprang out of a discussion at the 2006 ASLA annual meeting during the Healthcare and Therapeutic Design PPN session. Members noted that there has been much more research in the past few years in the area of health care and therapeutic design, and practitioners want to stay abreast of that new information. However, it is difficult to keep up with the current research because new studies are published in a wide variety of sources. As a result of that discussion, PPN members applied for a PPN Initiatives Program grant. Funding began May 1, 2007, and will last one year.

The grant pays stipends for one to two students from Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa, to comb through new research from academic libraries for current articles of interest to health care and therapeutic garden design professionals. Summaries of this research are made available on the Healthcare and Therapeutic Design PPN website. An interactive blog is also under development to allow members to engage in dialogue about and continue refinement and application of this research.

For more information about the TLRI, contact Susan Erickson, Iowa State University, at 515-294-1790 or susaneri@iastate.edu. To access the TLRI database, visit the Healthcare and Therapeutic Design TLRI website at http://host.asla.org/groups/tgdpigroup/tlri.html.”

This is an excellent new resource, particularly for designers who need a way to distill the growing body of literature on research-based healthcare design.

Backyard Sanctuary

January 21, 2008 | by Naomi Sachs

It’s 23 degrees Fahrenheit outside, the warmest it’s been all day, and this is the view from my office window here in Beacon, NY. Now, to some of you this may look rather bleak – the last windswept vestiges of last week’s snowfall, the winter sunlight just barely lighting up that north side of the garden, and a puny tree with no leaves, only bare branches. Well, let me tell you, that tree is a witch hazel, Hamamelis x intermedia ‘Jelena,’ and every time I look at her, a smile creeps across my face. You see, “Jelena,” as I like to call her, holds great promise: The promise of spring, and soon. I learned to appreciate witch hazels in Providence, RI on wintry walks to and from work, and have wanted one (at least one!) in my own garden ever since. I knew when I planted Jelena that long before anything else was even thinking about emerging from dormancy, this intrepid tree would begin to bloom, pushing forth bright red (or yellow or orange, depending on the variety) fingers of delightfully scented blossoms from soft, velvety buds. And today I checked and sure enough, inside of those tight fists of buds are bright red spots promising blossoms in a month, maybe a little more, maybe a little less. Spring in February/March in New York, not too shabby. My camera’s “macro” feature is nonexistent, but you get the idea:

Your Healing Garden

There are so many ways to make your outdoor space–be it hundreds of acres, a city lot, a fire escape, or a window box–into more than just a place for the occasional backyard party or weeding/raking session. Being in and connected with nature has myriad benefits, with stress reduction being at the top of the list. This is a new series on this new blog, aimed more at the home gardener than the academic or the seasoned designer, with the goal of inspiring people to start treating their immediate outdoor environments as places that can facilitate health and well-being. I’ll touch on important design considerations; reasons for creating a backyard sanctuary; my favorite books, articles, and links on the subject; as well as examples and anecdotes.
More again soon.

Excellent Resource: SULIS

January 16, 2008 | by Naomi Sachs

SULIS – Sustainable Urban Landscape Information Series
University of Minnesota

This information-packed page on Healing Gardens includes a nice definition of Healing Gardens (see below); notes on general design and design for specific uses; and many useful links and references.

“What is a healing garden?

Based on research by Ulrich and others, it could be argued that any garden is a healing garden. However, for the purposes of this article, we refer to Eckerling’s definition of a healing garden: “a garden in a healing setting designed to make people feel better” (Eckerling, 1996). The goal of a healing garden is to make people feel safe, less stressed, more comfortable and even invigorated.”

Image, courtesy of SULIS website: Paved walkways of the Sensory Garden located at the University of Minnesota Landscape Arboretum (Photo courtesy of the UMN Landscape Arboretum)

Wanted: Information on Gardens for Grieving Children or Children’s Bereavement Centers

January 13, 2008 | by Naomi Sachs

A senior landscape architecture major at the University of Rhode Island is looking for information on therapeutic gardens for grieving children and/or children’s bereavement centers for her final thesis. Please post to this blog if you have any information. Thank you!

Hope in Bloom – Gardens for Breast Cancer Patients

January 10, 2008 | by Naomi Sachs

Hope in Bloom is a 501(c)(3) charity that provides gardens free of charge at the homes of women and men who are undergoing treatment for breast cancer (yes, men can get it, too). They began planting in the summer of 2007 and have installed two dozen gardens in Massachusetts (note that they are only planting gardens in MA, for now). Founded by Roberta Dehman Hershon, Hope in Bloom is based in Massachusetts, but plans to expand to other states in the future. From their website, www.hopeinbloom.org:

“Hope in Bloom gardens offer people a beautiful, tranquil place to sit, reflect and escape from the world of doctors, hospitals and sickness. We create life-affirming indoor or outdoor gardens (container, patio or in-ground) for any breast cancer patient undergoing treatment who requests one (the garden may be planted after treatment is over, but must be requested during treatment). All have symbols of life including color, texture, fragrance and sound incorporated into their design. Each garden is tailored to the recipient’s residential situation and lifestyle.”

Here’s a quote from one of their recipients:

“Thank you so much for my beautiful garden. What a transformation! After it was planted, I thought I would nap but instead found myself returning again and again to the garden with the energy of a puppy. That was a strange, magical, joyous feeling. After eight years of treatment, I am used to being tired and depleted. Today I have found myself swelling with a surge that I can only describe as hope.

I am tempted to wrap myself in a blanket and sleep in the hammock chair amidst the new plantings. Even at night I can see the blossoms. I am nourished by the beauty of the space, and by all of the caring everyone put into creating it. It’s the combination of the two that makes it a place of renewal and healing.

I’m here not just because of medical advances that knock down the cancer, but because of gifts such as the garden that give me a more profound strength.”

Hope in Bloom welcomes donations of funding, time (design, installation, and maintenance) and materials (plant material, pots, garden furniture).

Healthcare Fine Art: A blog for your Favorites list

January 9, 2008 | by Naomi Sachs

Henry Domke’s beautiful and thought-provoking blog, Healthcare Fine Art, discusses current issues about the use of art in healthcare:

What is the “state of the art”?
Who are the leaders in the field?
What are problems to be avoided?
Who are some of the artists making art for HealthCare?
How is it done in other countries?
What is the most cost effective way to get the job done?
What is all this talk about “evidence-based-art”?

Domke, an artist with a background in medicine, does not claim to be an authority on the use of art in healthcare, but he seeks out answers from those who are.

Photo of water lilies by Henry Domke. You can view more of his work on his website.

Center for Health Design Position Papers

| by Naomi Sachs

The Center for Health Design has published two good papers:

Wayfinding: Design for Understanding, written by Barbara J. Huelat, explores ways that wayfinding promotes healing, fiscal health and efficiency. In addition, other benefits of a strong wayfinding system are discussed.

Health and Nature: The Influence of Nature on Design of the Environment of Care, written by Jerry Smith, ASLA, LEED AP, reviews the impact of nature on healthcare environments. Smith also discusses the needs of various user groups within these spaces as they relate to nature.

Both are “Best Practices Papers”:

Based on the work the ESC did in 2005 for the “Environment of Care” chapter, individual members are drafting position papers on a variety of topics, including nature and wayfinding. They are available for download at: http://www.healthdesign.org/advocacy/adgroups/escouncil.php.

New Journal: Health Environments Research and Design Journal (HERD)

| by Naomi Sachs

The Health Environments Research and Design Journal (HERD) is an interdisciplinary, peer-reviewed journal whose mission is to enhance the knowledge and practice of evidence-based healthcare design by disseminating research findings, discussing issues and trends, and translating research to practice.

The vision of HERD is to improve healthcare outcomes as a result of enhancing healthcare environments for those receiving and giving care.

HERD is the only one of its kind featuring evidence-based articles for health environments design and outcomes related to organizational performance and the human experience. The commitment to an interdisciplinary design process is reflected in HERD’s interdisciplinary Editorial Board with representatives from healthcare (including nursing, medicine and healthcare administration), the design industry (architecture, engineering, interiors, graphics), environmental and behavioral psychology, neurosciences, systems and organizational effectiveness, art and music fields, and other complementary fields. The journal also centralizes knowledge about healthcare innovations and designs and addresses significant challenges in the healthcare industry to improve patient outcomes, to reduce errors and to enhance the work environments for healthcare professionals.

As a translational journal linking research to practice, HERD features both rigorous research from academic sources and applied research from practice. Each will be held to high standards.

For more information, to to order a subscription, go to: http://www.herdjournal.com/ME2/Default.asp