Euphorbia at Chicago Botanic Garden. Photo by Naomi Sachs
Registration is still open for the upcoming Chicago Botanic Garden Healthcare Garden Design Certificate Program, and for the one-day seminar, “Gardens That Heal: A Prescription for Wellness.”
Where else can you learn from top designers and scholars in the field, meet and work with a diverse array of talented and enthusiastic colleagues, and receive a certificate in Healthcare Garden Design, all on the grounds of the stunning Chicago Botanic Garden? Answer: Nowhere. You might even cuddle up to a giant Echium, as instructor Naomi Sachs did last year… Hope to see you there!
Gardens That Heal: A Prescription for Wellness
One-Day Seminar designed as a starting point for those participating in the full program, and as an introduction for professionals not requiring full certification.
Wednesday, May 11, 2016
9 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Eight-day Healthcare Garden Design Professional Development Certificate program
May 11 – 28, 2016
This program will meet for eight days in May 2016. The session includes lectures, group projects, case studies, and field trips. Experts from the healthcare garden-related professions provide program instruction. You will work in multidisciplinary teams that reflect the real world of healthcare garden design, and your learning will be reinforced through tours of healthcare facilities in greater Chicago.
Online registration is unavailable 24 hours prior to the class start date. You may still register by calling (847) 835-8261.
Alliums at Chicago Botanic Garden. Photo by Naomi Sachs
Program overview
Healthcare garden design is an emerging area of specialization in which several professions converge to create environments of care. In this professional development program, attendees will discover the many ways gardens provide verifiable health benefits for their patients, staff, and visitors. The multidisciplinary program introduces the latest research in healthcare garden design, demonstrating the benefits of healthcare gardens while providing participants with the expertise, knowledge, and tools to effectively design, manage, and evaluate such gardens. These garden environments of care maximize the effectiveness of clinical treatments for illness and disabilities, and create passive garden experiences that significantly reduce staff stress and absenteeism, improve patient health, increase client satisfaction, and strengthen the bottom line.
Who should participate?
Landscape architects, garden designers, architects, and interior designers; healthcare executives, program administrators, development and marketing directors, and consultants; nurses, therapists, extended care providers, and activity and recreation directors; graduate students in related fields.
Specific Content Elements
- Types of healthcare gardens and their defining characteristics
- Research, evidence-based design, and post-occupancy evaluation
- Passive and active garden experiences for positive health outcomes
- Characteristics of user groups (patients, family, visitors, and staff) and how they benefit
- How to reduce staff stress and increase satisfaction, retention, and recruitment
- Universal design, ADA, barrier-free design, regulations, codes, and specifications
- Integration of gardens into new and existing healthcare campus landscapes
- Connection of outdoor gardens to indoor spaces and therapeutic activities
- Plant selection and use, equipment, materials, safety, security, and privacy
- Construction and maintenance of new projects; performing renovations and redirecting uses of indoor and outdoor spaces, including rooftops
- How to build winning healthcare garden design teams
- How to succeed in the client-centered marketplace
- Marketing, project proposals, and management; funding and resources
Visit the CBG website for more information, including the list of stellar instructors.
Naomi Sachs with Echium genera (Tower of Jewels), Chicago Botanic Garden. Photo by Rob Hoover