Social Work and Therapeutic Gardening in Detention Settings - Term Paper Example

Therapeutic Gardening in Detention 2006 Introduction Over the last decade or so, there has been an increasing realization that plants have a healing role in human lives. Not only is plant life biologically essential to the survival of the earth, there are very strong therapeutic elements that the green world has on the spiritual and mental lives of human beings. As a result, horticultural therapy has come into existence to rehabilitate special people, including the disabled, the depressed and the criminally inclined. Much of the research on the social angle of horticultural therapy has been conducted in the theoretical realm although several projects have been undertaken to use gardening as a therapeutic tool for physical and mental treatment. While social and community gardening has been accepted to have a wide educational role, besides being environmentally oriented, it is increasingly realized that the feel-good factor of gardening and connected to land have the ability to transform distorted human minds. The human issues in horticulture capture all aspects of people-plant interactions and are often considered to have a great social role. Horticultural therapy has been found to be beneficial not only for those with physical or mental disabilities or sensory impairments, geriatric patients but also those susceptible to substance abuse or deviant nature. It has particularly been found to have a positive effect on people under detention for either substance abuse or criminal behavior. In this paper, I will discuss the therapeutic qualities of gardening in general and its benefits in a detention set-up. Therapeutic qualities of gardening Man has long been practicing gardening activities for physiological and psychological well-being. In ancient Egypt, palace physicians prescribed walks in the garden for mentally handicapped patients (Shoemaker, n.d). Being in the company of plants, vegetables and flowers have a great calming effect. Besides, the efforts in planning and execution of a garden plan as well as the daily nurture have a positive effect on one’s self-esteem and gratification. The final outcome of the time and effort devoted to the garden results in overwhelming pride to the gardener. Horticultural therapy involves everything related towards man-nature interaction, including gardening, plant cure, garden tools and occupation. A therapeutic garden may be either indoors or outdoor. Essentially, the landscape should be green-oriented, with lots of plants, trees and flowers, attracting birds and animals. Gardening as a therapeutic tool is also not new. As early as 1948, the term “horticultural therapy” was used as an instrument for rehabilitation (Olszowy, 1978 cited in Sandel, n.d). Not just a feel-good factor, therapeutic gardening is also thought to result in actual neurological and hormonal changes that have positive effects on the mental and physical health (Michaud, 2003 cited in Sandel, n.d). In practice, horticultural therapy was put into use with disabled veterans after World War I. The Red Cross, too, adopted the step. It has been found that therapeutic gardening, either by showing photographs of flowers, trees and plants, or by actual activities outdoor, affects moods positively (Soderback et al, 2004) While initially, horticultural therapy was mainly used for the mentally ill, the disabled and war veterans, the 1950s and 1960s saw application of the science in other medical treatments. It may be considered as three alternative types of therapy- occupational, recreation and activity (Shoemaker, n.d). Gardening may have different types of roles – 1) vocational, 2) therapeutic and 3) social. Vocational gardening trains people with the explicit purpose of finding them employment. Whatever the other reasons are, possibilities of employment are often the most important motivating factor for people taking up gardening more than just a hobby. Therapeutic gardening may be used to rehabilitate people with physical or mental disabilities or injury, substance abuse or deviant behavior. Such programs allow people to adjust to their new kinds of abilities or achieve some sort of functionalities despite the handicap. The healing and curative effects of horticultural therapy has been found to be effective with children with cerebral palsy (Ackley & Cole, 1987), Alzheimer’s Disease (Ellis, 1995), mental illness (Smith, 1998), developmental disabilities (Airhart, Willis & Westrick, 1987), geriatrics (Haas, Simpson & Stevenson, 1998). Therapeutic horticulture is used most in long term facilities for the seniors, rehabilitation and psychiatric centers (Sandel, n.d). Social gardening is taken up in residential housing complexes, communities and schools typically to provide residents with better and healthy living atmosphere, increase social interactions and reduce stress. Usually, landscaping and social gardening is not an individual activity but a social goal. Social and therapeutic horticulture is formally defined as the process by which individuals may develop well-being using plants and horticulture. This is achieved by active or passive involvement.’ (GrowthPoint issue 79, Autumn, 1999, p. 4, quoted in Thrive). This includes the use of horticulture to impart formal skills like literacy and numeracy through embedded learning techniques as well as social skills like teamwork, patience, etc. In effect the benefits of horticultural therapy can be expressed in the following model developed by (Aldridge & Sempick, 2003, presented in Thrive). Through both physical and mental stimulation – active and passive- health and well-being may greatly be improved through horticultural therapy. The organization, Thrive, collected information on garden projects in the United Kingdom. Nearly half of the projects involved those with learning difficulties and 40.6 percent were mentally ill. Horticultural rehabilitation programs in detention centers Therapeutic gardening has been used in detention centers with all the three goals – occupational, therapeutic and social - in mind. Training in horticulture prepares the inmates in an occupation that he can take up after release; it has a therapeutic role in healing and curing tendencies towards substance abuse or criminal deviance; and it improves his social skills in interaction and inclination towards the social good rather than individual. Relf (2005) points out that gardening has a nurturing effects on communities because 1) it results in a physical surrounding that makes the residents proud of their efforts, 2) provides opportunities for residents to share ideas and commitments, 3) gives residents an environment that is more healthy and pleasant. The effects are all the more relevant in the detention set up of residents who had limited socialization skills and lacked the environment for social bonding. Rehabilitation programs in prisons in the United States are grossly inadequate. Kellar (2005) finds that most rehabilitation programs are provided along with state-level prison and parole programs and cater to a small fraction of the inmates. For example, only 40 percent of substance abusers in jail are offered chances of rehabilitation. While state prisons perform somewhat better in education programs, correctional education and drug treatment are far less than necessary. Hence, prisons need to develop programs individually within their budgets. One possible and perhaps the most effective rehabilitation program may be through horticultural therapy. The Denton (TX) Post Adjudication Secure Treatment Facility for 25 juveniles, both male and female, has programs for substance abuse as well as other rehabilitation programs. Supported by the Texas Youth Commission Facility, Denton facility began a container program in 2002 at the basketball court that was discarded because of minor aggressive incidents earlier. The staff and community members donated plants, seeds, containers, potting soil and lumber. The garden was set up with no public money since the Texas facility was short of funds. All residents were encouraged to participate in the garden on the assurance that all behavioral problems arising at the garden would be solved there itself and would not result in lost points. The juveniles actively joined the garden, working for 30 minutes to an hour a day, watering plants, weeding and doing other jobs. Surprisingly, while the basketball ground had to be shut down because of aggression among the residents, the same participants worked in the garden with no such problem. The juveniles were much calmer and worked as a team. The garden was not taken up as a specific horticultural therapy program but it gave out similar results. The juveniles were in a participatory mode, sharing notes on their experience in the garden with the staff and peers. Once, a member of the staff instructed a juvenile to throw a nearly dead pepper plant in the garbage but the latter resisted, saying that he was trying to salvage the plant. He ultimately succeeded in his perseverance, metaphorically proving that nothing is ever a lost case, not even the juveniles themselves who had landed up at the facility. The more tangible benefits of the gardening project was the educational effect of growing organic plants, showing that they could grow healthy consuming organic food, improved family bonding since the residents had a lot to talk about their garden on family visits and stronger nature-man relationship of the juveniles who earlier had little time to think of the environment and their surroundings. The residents even displayed their products at the local organic fruit and vegetable show, increasing their self-esteem and socialization level. Brooks and Oppenheimer () had doubted the effect of horticultural therapy on juveniles, arguing that “the most difficult groups will be the males from the early teens to the middle twenties. They will reject this form of therapy particularly if they are unfamiliar with gardening (quoted in Sandel, n.d). The fears were disproved at the Texas facility. The most successful prison garden program was developed in the San Francisco County Jail in 1982 by jail counselor Catherine Sneed. She was inspired by Steinbeck’s novel, “Grapes of Wrath”, in the view that connectedness with earth improves mental faculties of human beings. She was convinced that keeping inmates indoors does not rehabilitate them. Although there were great security issues, she developed a full-scale garden program in the jail for the inmates as well as former prisoners who were trying to get back to the mainstream society. The San Francisco County Jail horticultural program has been a landmark success and continuing till date. Statistics show that 7.5 percent of the participants did not return to a criminal life and to jail (californiaheartland). The San Francisco County jail has got 4,300 people employed, providing them with skills they never thought they had while they also worked at the garden in San Bruno or Hunters Point. The gardens have not only provided them horticultural skills but also the basic qualities that are required at the work environment. Sneed’s experiment has proved to the inmates that a normal life, with getting to work every day and doing the best one can do, provide with results not any least spectacular than those they were used with crime or substance abuse. And the process was also much easier even though many of the inmates are usually apprehensive initially. The program boosts the self-esteem of the inmates, many of them earning their first pay-check of their life working at the garden. The work rules and pay structure are designed like in a job. For example, the recently released parolees work eight hours a day at the garden, five days a week and earn $11 an hour plus medical and benefits. The Garden Project has been a model crime prevention program in the United States. Even while 55 percent of the participants did return to the jail within a year, they had a recidivism rate of 24 percent after two years. In the process, the Garden Project grows most of its requirements of vegetables, including broccoli and lettuce that grows round the year in the San Francisco climate. The parolees are also included in the Tree Corps working with the San Francisco Department of Public Works, to plant trees in the neighborhood (Van Cleef, 2002). Horticultural therapy has been found particularly useful in the rehabilitation of drug abusers. In England, gardener Monty Don who is a celebrity appearing regularly on television, took in a group of ten ex-offenders into his wing and trained them in gardening skills at the six-acre plot in Herefordshire. According to Monty, the hard work at the garden has its rewards that even abusers cannot ignore. He says, "You cannot cheat nature. You can't lie to a pig that needs feeding or a plant that's got to be grown. And if you produce good food, lovingly, with hard work, prepare it with care and share it with other people... the ritual of that gives self worth." The group harvests its produce and supplies to local shops. Most of the participants found good results from the program that improved their inter-personal skills. Don usually takes in hardcore addicts most of whom have been cured of their longtime problems (BBC, 2006). The experiment proves that gardening therapy may be an effective rehabilitation program for substance abusers who are detained. The garden project at San Quentin jail was begun by Jacquis Verduin, who was the director of the Insight Prison Project, sponsoring classes for jail inmates and helping them to lead a normal life after incarceration. The classes included those on pre-parole preparation, parenting, substance abuse, victim-offender dialogues. Verduin, who believed “you grow plants, you grow people”, found the garden project immensely helpful in socializing the inmates. Nearly 250 inmates participated in the program, digging, weeding and watering plants. The project has become so successful that the inmates are considered experts on organic farming in the Bay Area. An inmate, Troy, found, "Gardening and landscaping can bring abundance into my life. I can give back to the Earth, instead of killing the Earth." Many of the participants even plan to take up gardening as an occupation when they get out (Robbins, 2006). The Federal Bryan Prison, which houses 800 women serving out incarceration, has a lush 37 ½ acre garden with 60,000 square feet bed area in the middle of the residential neighborhood. All women in the prison are expected to work, whether it is in landscaping, gardening or in the kitchen. Every year, 25 women with high school education are chosen for the project. They attend classes as well participate in the garden project. After completing the course, the women may choose to continue as horticultural internees or any other assignment in the jail. The essential purpose is to provide the women an occupation and prepare them for normal lives after their release. Many of the inmates chalked out their after-prison plans on the basis of their learning. For example, Aries, who hails from Hawaii, wants to grow orchids when she leaves; Laura wants to set up a greenhouse tomato business; Raynetta wants to work in the Botanical Garden in Fort Worth; Melissa wants to build water gardens and Tammy wants to share her horticultural skills with the disabled (Anderson, 2003). Conclusion Horticultural therapy has been practiced since the ages although its use as a profession has come in vogue since the 1950s and 1960s. Initially used to rehabilitate war veterans, gardening has been used as medical therapy for the disabled and people with learning inadequacies. More recently, gardening is being used in prisons and in detention centers for juveniles. It has been proved that gardening improves the self-esteem and team spirit of inmates while also providing them an occupation opportunity after their prison term. Spectacular results have been observed in changing the behavioral pattern of inmates towards a more social and interactive trend. Gardening not only provides an occupation and therapeutic value in detention, it may effectively be used for embedded education. Works Cited Sandel, Mark H., Therapeutic Garden in Long Term Detention Setting, Department of Rehabilitation, Social Work and Addiction, University of Texas. Soderback, Ingrid et al, Horticultural Therapy: the “healing garden” and gardening in rehabilitation measures at Danderyd Hospital Rehabilitation Clinic, Sweden, Pediatric Rehabilitation, 2004, vol 7 no 4. Ackley, D & Cole L, The effect of horticultural therapy program on children with cerebral palsy, Journal of Rehabilitation, 1987, 53(4) Airhart, D L, Willis, T & Westrick, P, Horticultural Training for Adolescent Special Education Students, Journal of Therapeutic Horticulture, 1987, 2 Relf, Paula Diane, The therapeutic value of plants, Pediatric Rehabilitation, July 2005, 8(3). Brooks, H D & Oppenheimer, C J., Horticulture as a Therapeutic Aid, New York, Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine, New York University Medical Center Oslozowy, D R, Horticulture for the Disabled and Disadvantaged, 1978, Springfields: Charles C Thomas Kellar, Mark, The Rehabilitation Dilemma in Texas County Jails, The Southwest Journal of Criminal Justice, 2005, Vol No 2 BBC Online, Digging out of Drug abuse, February 3, 2006, http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/6109178.stm Califorrnia Heart Land, Jail Garden, http://www.californiaheartland.org/archive/hl_717/jailgarden.htm Robbins, Noelle, Behind the garden wall; Not only plants grow in this garden. Some San Quentin inmates are digging their way out of prison, San Francisco Chronicle, http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/01/14/HOGCRGL7H81.DTL Van Cleef, Lisa, Gardening Conquers All: How to cut your jail recidivism rates by half, Special to SF Gate, December 18, 2002, http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=%2Fgate%2Farchive%2F2002%2F12%2F18%2Fgreeng.DTL Anderson, Linda, Blossoms on Prison Grounds: Extension helps prisoners prepare to go home, March 7, 2003 Shoemaker, C A. Horticulture Therapy: comparisons with other allied therapies and current status of the profession, http://www.actahort.org/members/showpdf?booknrarnr=639_21 Thrive, http://www.thrive.org.uk/about-thrive-social.asp Read More