conferences Archives - Therapeutic Landscapes Network Therapeutic Landscapes Network

Calls for conference proposals, and save the dates!

January 25, 2015 | by Naomi Sachs

Photo by Henry Domke

It’s time to submit some conference proposals! Let’s get the word out on research and strategies for connecting people with nature for health. Here are several calls for proposals, in chronological order of when they are due. Of course, mark your calendars for these conferences at the same time.

American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) – Due Jan 29, 2015
Chicago, IL
Nov 6-9, 2015
Learn more, and submit a proposal

Healthcare Design Conference – Due Jan 30
Washington, D.C.
Nov 14-17, 2015
Learn more, and submit a proposal

Horticultural Society of New York (HSNY) Healing Nature Symposium – Due Feb 13
New York, NY
March 27, 2015
TLN Director Naomi Sachs is giving the keynote at this conference, so she hopes to see you there!
Learn more, and submit a proposal (more…)

Nature School Conference: September 23-25, 2013

September 22, 2013 | by Naomi Sachs

Nature play in a schoolyard (Courtesy: ISGA)

Our sincere apologies for getting the word out about this conference this late. However, it’s an important one for the record, so I’m posting it anyway. If anyone is going, please report back!

Join Evergreen Brick Works and the International School Grounds Alliance for three days of inspiration and idea sharing with visionary leaders of the green school ground movement. The Nature School Conference takes place in Toronto, Ontario, September 23-25. Attendees are coming from as far away as Japan, Norway, and Australia.

Some of this year’s breakout sessions include Food and Gardens in Schools, The Need for Beneficial Risk (in school- and play yards), and Cultural Considerations in School Ground Design. The International School Grounds Alliance (ISGA) is a global network of organizations and professionals working to enrich children’s learning and play by improving the way school grounds are designed and used. Open year-round, Evergreen Brick Works is a community environmental centre that inspires visitors to live, work, and play more sustainably.

Along with plenary speakers and inspiring breakout sessions, a pre-conference tour of three local educational spaces takes place Sunday, September 22. To learn more about the conference offerings, plenary speakers, and presenters, visit the Evergreen web site. For even more information, Amal Musa, Conference Coordinator at amusa@evergreen.ca or 416-596-1495 ext.248.

13th Annual American Horticultural Therapy Association (AHTA) conference

August 29, 2013 | by Naomi Sachs

“Honoring the Past…Envisioning the Future”

The American Horticultural Therapy Association (AHTA) is celebrating its 40-year anniversary, so you know their annual conference is going to be a rockin’ one.

Where: The Commons Hotel in Minneapolis, Minnesota
When: Friday and Saturday, September 20th and 21st. Pretours are scheduled for Thursday, September 19th.

This year’s anniversary celebration will feature past AHTA presidents and luminaries from the field, as well as a host of international presenters who will discuss their research, practices, and the future of horticultural therapy. New this year and included in your conference registration fee is the 2013 AHTA Anniversay Gala Dinner. Help us honor our 2013 AHTA Annual Award winners and recognize those who helped shape AHTA through the past 40 years.

For more information, visit the AHTA Annual Conference meeting pages on the AHTA website.

Nordic Adventure: Connecting Children with Nature

August 23, 2013 | by Naomi Sachs

International Conference in Copenhagen and Malmö, September 2013

No matter the weather or the season, Nordic children can always be found playing outdoors. The upcoming conference, Nordic Adventure: Connecting Children with Nature, will feature keynote addresses and workshop presentations on the myriad opportunities for connecting children to nature in Denmark, Sweden and Norway. The conference takes place September 10-13, 2013 in Copenhagen and Malmö. The registration deadline was August 20 (sorry, we’re a little behind on our blog posts) but if you act fast, you can probably squeeze in there.

Scandinavian nations have long since worked with adventure and nature playgrounds, school gardens and green school grounds, forest and outdoor preschools, education for sustainable development, and many other nature-based initiatives for children. The English-language conference will be a mixture of plenary sessions, presentations, site visits and social experiences.

For details and information on registration, contact the planning committee: nordicadventure2013@gmail.com, and visit the conference site.

Children & Nature Network’s Grassroots Gathering

August 8, 2013 | by Naomi Sachs

Outdoor Free Play

The Children and Nature Network is holding its annual conference, Grassroots Gathering 2013 in San Diego on September 4-6. This year’s conference features great speakers, practical tips, and opportunities to network with leaders committed to connecting children to nature.

C&NN co-founder and Chairman Emeritus Richard Louv will lead a discussion about creating the future of the children and nature movement. Feedback, ideas, and suggestions are needed on big questions such as “How do we overcome barriers to children ‘s access to nature and the outdoors? What community opportunities can we take advantage of? And what does the movement need right now versus in the future?”

The conference begins Wednesday, September 4th at 2:30 and closes at noon on Friday, September 6th. Registration includes all meals and meeting materials. To register, go to Eventbrite. For more details about presentations, varying conference rates, and accommodations, view the complete agenda.

tixBAR_GG2013b

HEALTHCARE DESIGN 2013 – Early Bird reg. ends Friday!

August 5, 2013 | by Naomi Sachs

In our earlier post on HEALTHCARE DESIGN 2013, we didn’t list specific sessions because they hadn’t been published yet. So here’s an update, with sessions that may be of particular interest to our Network members. Keep in mind that many other sessions will probably cover access to nature in one way or another; these are just the ones that mentioned it specifically.

First, here’s the HCD13 blurb:

“Shaping the Future of Healthcare Facility Design”
The Healthcare Design Conference is the premier event devoted to how the design of responsibly built environments directly impact the safety, operation, clinical outcomes, and financial success of healthcare facilities now and into the future. With roughly 4000 participants at the 2012 Healthcare Design Conference, this is the industry’s best-attended conference where attendees can earn up to 24 continuing education credits, network with peers, and influence the direction of the industry as it advances into the future.

For more information and to register, visit www.healthcaredesignmagazine.com/conference/healthcare-design-conference

Now the sessions:

Facility tour of Nemours Childrens Hospital

TAMU First Look Colloqium—Therapeutic Landscapes: Tools for Successful Design and Outcomes
Naomi Sachs, Founding Director, Therapeutic Landscapes Network; Mardelle McCuskey Shepley, DArch, FAIA, FACHA, EDAC, LEED AP, The Skaggs – Sprague Endowed Chair in Health Facilities Design, Director, Center for Health Systems & Design, Texas A&M University.
Access to nature in the healthcare environment is increasingly accepted by designers, healthcare administrators, staff, and the community as an important element in the environment of care. As demand grows, designers need solid research, specific guidelines, and good existing examples to inform their work. Guidelines with clearly defined metrics can be translated into an evaluative tool for “apples to apples” comparisons. All of these strategies help stakeholders to understand the role and importance of access to nature. This understanding and knowledge ensures that spaces—and elements within those spaces—provide the best possible outcomes for patients, visitors, staff.

(more…)

Children & Youth Garden Symposium: Register by 7/23!

June 21, 2013 | by Naomi Sachs

The American Horticultural Society’s 2013 National Children & Youth Garden Symposium takes place at the Denver Botanic Gardens July 11-13, 2013, with pre-symposium garden tours on July 10 and 11.

In addition to a host of seminars, attendees will have the chance to participate in tours of the Denver Urban Gardens, The Gardens on Spring Creek (Fort Collins, CO) and Cheyenne Botanic Gardens (Cheyenne, WY). The event’s prime sponsor, The American Horticultural Society, has organized more than 50 workshops in six categories including Curriculum, Garden Design and Maintenance, Horticultural Science, Horticutural Therapy, Literature, and Policy.

Keynote speakers
The first of three keynote speakers is environmental psychologist Louise Chawla, Professor of Environmental Design at the University of Colorado.
As Associate Director of the Children, Youth and Environments Center for Community Engagement. Marcia Eames-Sheavly is a senior lecturer as well as children and youth program leader for Cornell Garden-Based Learning in Ithaca, NY.
David Sobel, Senior Faculty in the Education Department at Antioch University in Keene, NH. He is the author of seven books and more than 60 articles focused on children and nature for educators, parents, environmentalists and school administrators.

Pre-symposium garden tours July 10 and 11
Denver Urban Gardens supports one of the largest school garden networks in the United States. In this tour you will see three school gardens and learn how they foster community, health, and education. A youth-led farmer’s market at Fairview School Community Garden, a schoolyard farm at Denver Green School Community Garden supplying the cafeteria salad bar managed by Sprout City Farms, and integrated nutrition and science classes at Bradley International School’s Heather Regan Memorial Garden will be some of the dynamic aspects of youth gardening we will encounter.

The Gardens on Spring Creek and Cheyenne Botanic Gardens are public gardens that serve as models for children’s gardening due to their dedicated interest in making gardens a safe, enjoyable, and educational environment for children and youth. Staff at each location will give personalized tours while highlighting the history and development of these children’s gardens, as well as their hands-on methods of educational programming.

A sampler of symposium workshops

Benefits of School Gardens
Cross-Curricular Cooking
Slow Food in the Garden
Little Budget, Big Impact! Hands-on Lessons, Few Supplies
Sensory Gardens that Maximize Play
Learning Gardens: Making Outdoor Education Irresistible, Relevant and Resilient
Your Garden Toolkit: The Right Tools for a Children’s Garden
Lessons for Today’s Children’s Garden Educators
Discover Fun and Interesting Fruits and Veggies for the Garden
Teachable Landscapes: Using Gardens for Informal Science Learning

The symposium is also offering three Horticultural Therapy sessions:

Operating a Greenhouse with Special Needs Students
Horticultural Therapy and Junior Master Gardeners
Horticultural Therapy: Gardening with Pediatric Patients in a Hospital Environment

In 1993 the American Horticultural Society saw a need to reconnect children with nature, and created the first Children & Youth Garden Symposium. If you wish to register the July 2013 conference, visit the registration page. Learn more details by visiting the overview page which offers a day-by-day schedule of workshops and activities. If you have specific queries, contact the American Horticultural Society, 703.768.5700 or webmaster@ahs.org.

ASLA 2013 conference – Early bird deadline ends 6/14

June 11, 2013 | by Naomi Sachs

The American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) annual meeting and EXPO will take place from November 15 -18 in Boston, Massachusetts. This year’s theme is “Gaining Ground.”

Of particular interest to Therapeutic Landscapes Network members will be the following sessions, though many more may be as well.

The general session will be a talk by notable author and scholar Stephen Kellert, “Biophilic Design: People and Nature in the Modern World.”
Saturday, 11/16, 8-9 am
Our connection to the natural world is part of our biological inheritance. Dr. Stephen R. Kellert, a pioneer in biophilia, will set forth an account of nature’s powerful influence on the quality of our lives. Weaving scientific findings together with personal experiences and perspectives, Dr. Kellert explores how our humanity is deeply contingent on the quality of our connections to the natural world. He is the Tweedy Ordway Professor Emeritus of Social Ecology and Senior Research Scholar at the Yale University School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. An award-winning author, educator, and environmental scientist, Dr. Kellert has written more than 150 books and articles and has also completed a 60-minute documentary video, “Biophilic Design: the Architecture of Life.” I highly recommend his new book Birthright.

Landscapes of Therapy at Boston Area Teaching Hospitals
Field Session (tour), Friday, 11/15, all day
Boston-area teaching hospitals are world leaders in patient-centered care, research, and treatment. Visit five recent therapy gardens designed for these institutions to fit in tight urban situations: two interior gardens, two roof-deck gardens, and one waterfront site designed both for therapy and rising sea levels. Yes, this is the same day as the 3 education sessions listed below. Happens every year. We wish ASLA could do something about this but apparently, they can’t.

Translating Research into Restoration: Exterior Environments for Wounded Warriors
Friday, 11/15, 8:30-10 am
Presenters: Landscape architects Brian Bainnson, Connie Roy Fisher, Jerry Smith
This session will look at healing gardens and sustainable sites designed to help heal veterans with PTSD and provide respite for their families and caregivers. Peer-reviewed research, design guidelines, and specific design strategies will focus on three of the country’s most prestigious military medical centers.

Therapeutic, Restorative, or Enabling: Are All Healing Gardens Designed the Same?
Friday, 11/15, 10:30-12 pm
Presenters: Landscape architects Jack Carman and Elizabeth Messer Diehll
As the prevalence of healing gardens grows so do the terms used to describe them, making it difficult to make valid distinctions. Using existing examples, this session presents a framework that describes the purpose, design focus, and potential users of each type of healing garden.

Playing It Too Safe?
Friday, 11/15, 1:30-3 pm
With Philip Howard of Common Good, Julian Richer and Harry Harbottle of Richter Spielgeräte, and Jane Clark Chermayeff of Architectural Playground Equipment, Inc.
Are playgrounds today giving children what they need? This panel for landscape architects, project managers, and advisers will balance risk and safety in planning play spaces and consider how play environments have changed in the 21st century, from both the European and American practitioners’ perspectives.

Healthcare and Therapeutic Design Professional Practice Network meeting
Sunday, 11/17 , 9:15-10:45 am

Children’s Outdoor Environments Professional Practice Network meeting
Sunday, 11/17 , 3:15-4:00 pm (I think this time may be incorrect, as the PPN meetings are usually 1.5 hours)

For more information and to register, visit ASLA’s conference page.

American Horticultural Therapy Assn. proposals due 3/31

March 15, 2013 | by Naomi Sachs

This year’s American Horticultural Therapy Association conference celebrates AHTA’s 40-year anniversary. Numerous international presenters as well as past AHTA luminaries will present their research, practices, and the future of horticultural therapy on September 20-21, with pre-conference tours on 9/2o, in Minneapolis, MN.

Presentation proposals are being accepted until March 31 in the following areas:

• Collaborations with allied professionals;

• Current research in horticultural therapy including other allied and adjunct professions;

• Implementation and sustainability of horticultural therapy programs, particularly those in non-traditional settings;

• Successful practices and programming strategies (including goals, objective and methods);

• Therapeutic garden (nature) design elements;

• Creating opportunities for horticulture therapy interns; and

• Creating opportunities to promote the horticulture therapy profession.

For details about registration and programming and to learn more about the Request for Proposal process, visit the AHTA Conference page.

Nature Heals Conference 2013

February 23, 2013 | by Naomi Sachs

A forest of redbud dogwood (Courtesy Henry Domke)

People, Plants, Animals, and the (Re-)connection to Health

The Nature Heals Conference, presented by the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum’s Nature-Based Therapeutic Services, takes place Thursday and Friday, March 14 and 15 in Chaska, MN. Nature Heals is an annual event and conversation about the neuroscience of human bonds with the natural world, including plant and animal interaction, and the ways that connecting with nature increase individual health and community well-being.

The two-day event will provide participants with new, research-based information to integrate into programming, policy-making, and fundraising in government, corporations, non-profits, social services, healthcare industry, community groups, faith-based organizations, schools and families.

On Thursday, March 15, Nature Heals will feature authors Eva Selhub, Your Brain on Nature, and Meg Olmert, Made for Each Other. The authors will engage in a discussion about their journeys to understand the health impact of nature on humans. On Friday, the University will roll out its new Nature-Based Therapy offerings and the audience will engage with the authors in experiential interactions and conversation about how individual health and community well-being can increase through interaction with plants and animals.

Visit the conference site to learn more about conference workshops, an interactive performance titled, “We Are Stardust” and registration details. Early bird fees apply to those who register before February 28. If you have other questions, please contact the Arboretum Education Department at 952-443-1422 or arbedu@umn.edu.