Mattie Cryer - Plants

Guess we should probably start 'cause I'm guessing that most people aren't really clear, and I'm certainly not clear, what is horticultural therapy? So maybe you could fill us in and bring us up to speed.

That is a great question.

The first response I typically get is, "Oh, you, you're a therapist for plants." [chuckles]

[chuckles]

And, uh, horticultural therapy is the use of plants to pursue goals with the facilitation of a professional, and those goals can be therapeutic, wellness-based, or vocational-based.

And so in my day job, I work at a neurorehabilitation hospital, so we're pursuing all three of those domains of goals.

And then whenever I work individually with clients or organizations, we sort of identify how exactly we can incorporate plants into either their client base or, you know, their overar- overarching goal regard of-- regardless of, you know, like what industry it's in or who it may be.

I mean, can you say a little bit more about like what, what does that actually look like? I mean, I, you-- So you work with, with physical rehabilitation.

Is it the same thing if you're working with someone who has, like, mental or emotional issues as well? Is it kind of the full range of therapies?

I mean, I have a biased opinion, but I think that yes, plants can serve as a therapeutic modality for any sort of goal.

So it could be physical rehab, it could be mental health, it could be, you know, physical in the sense that you have particular fitness goals.

It could be that you are just looking to be outside or you're looking to build community.

I think that plants and, and a relationship with nature are gonna facilitate goals just across the board.

Right.

Right.

I mean, I've certainly read tons of research that says, um, you know, spending time in nature, spending time around plants is just good for us.

I mean, it sort of stands to reason.

I mean, we didn't grow up biologically with, with buildings, you know, for millions of years.

We did grow up with plants, so I could see that.

Uh, c- can you just kinda walk us through, I mean, you don't have to use any specific, you know, example, but, um, just kind of in general, like what does horticultural therapy look like? I mean, imagine you're trying to help me with something that I need help with.

Absolutely.

So, you know, we would have a conversation about what, what is it that you might need help with, and maybe it's just that you want to feel good.

You wanna feel better and be in a better place whenever we leave the session.

And then we sort of pursue that using interests.

So that might be, you know, you're really interested in having salsa at the end of the summer, and so we're gonna build you a salsa garden where you're able to work in a way that physically feels good in your body.