Enriching people’s daily lives through plants & Gardening

What is Willoway Horticultural Therapy & WHo is it for?…

Horticultural Therapy uses plants, gardens, greenhouse and nature with a gardening and plant care approach to continue the cognitive, physical, and emotional therapy needed in reaching long term and short-term goals. Horticultural therapy provides a strategy to transition to and retain a sense of quality life and sustain everyday capabilities such as improve senses and physical movement and even a sense of purpose and belonging. Horticultural therapy activities. Participating in ativities with plants can create a feeling of belonging with the elements of nature, particularly plants, established in our hunter-gatherer ancestors and genetically transmitted to all humans.

Each participant brings with them a unique set of skills, preferences and challenges. Horticulutral therapy provides a wonderful toolkit to support growth by using naturein ways designed to bring out students’ participants strengthsand encourage them to develope new skills.

Here are some lessons found in nature experiences in gardens and working with plants.

Strength: Planting seeds and pulling weeds can develope fine motor and gross motor skills. Building upper body strengthh is incorporated by watering, increasing the volume of water as strength increases.

Curiosity: Children and adults alike learn by exploring their environment. Many participants come to these activities with sensory defensiness, which can create a barrier in learning. Our services provide a variety of novel sensory experiences to encourage exploration by participants. A garden is full of herbs to smell, vegetables to taste, birds to scan visually and hear in the environment and soil to dig in and explore.

Self expression: Nature brings a whole new vocabulary and opportunity for self expression. While gardening , we learn ways to describe what we see. We also practice choices and expressing our opinions and preferences.

Courage: It takes alot of courage to touch something you have never seen before. Wiggling worms and slimy snails call out to be investigated. We celebrate each step of the way, whether participants are just watching worms from a safe distance or holding it in their hands.

Math and science skills: There are seeds to count, stalks to measure, and gourds to weigh. Observing life cycles of butterflies and seeds teaches basic observational skills and inspire a sense of wonder.

Truly gardening and connecting people with plants can benefit all ages and all forms of learning capabilites. It is all inclusive and a great tool for staff, caretakers and folks with mental and physical challenges.

Here at Willoway Horticultural Therapy Services garden has a bigger meaning to us.

GARDEN

G oal driven

A ttentive to individual needs.

R especting all. Everyone is is worthy.

D iversity with plants and people.

E mbrace the challenge with grace

N ourish mind, body, & soul with plants

Plants enroot themselves into the earth, they use their roots to keep themselves in place despite the wind and other weather. This doesn’t mean rigid or unchanging, in contrary, the trees sway in the breeze, follow the sun, and grow. Trees can do all this while their roots remain firmly planted in the ground. They grow and transform from a strong and solid place. Humans can be that “tree” enrolling oneself back to earth to take on challenges. Using plants and gardening can provide a way to connect oneself to the world or simply slow down a racing mind and permit focus, sense of purpose and can even provide an activity promoting more social opportunities. Willoway Horticultural Therapy Services wants to benefit the lives of participants helping them grow roots and become grounded with the sense of contentment, by providing fun gardening, and safe plant care activities in line with the individual therapy goals of the participants and be all inclusive for welcoming staff, family, and friends of participants.

Willoway Horticultural Therapy Services will have a Can work with multiple varieties of population and has experience first hand with nursery students when Jacqueline was a co teacher at a Outdoor Nature School via Riveredge Nature Center of Saukville and YMCA program. Willoway Horticultural Services has hosted challenged preteens and teenagers at their farm for those summer campers to experience fun garden activies. Willoway Horticulural Services has also brough Plants connection opportunties to Adult Day Care Centers for some fund activties during those long winter months. Willoway Gardening activities programs and sessions can promote a grounded behavior to excel in one’s goals. The services provided will encourage multigeneration participants and broaden the potential of those benefiting from gardening and activities using plants by offering adapted gardening tools. Our programs will incorporate not only plants and gardening but will use the plants materials and the greenhouse as a source for the foundation for horticultural therapy activities during those colder non-gardening months.

Why the word “Willoway”?

From the start of the farm, Dan my life partner and gardener extraordinaire and I understood one must have the “will” to create the “way” for contentment and success. Daniel and I knew gardening and farming would be challenging to do for a living and would need plenty of “will” persevere. Having the will was choosing to garden and garden with human power and minimal soil impaction. Gardens, wooded lands, and other natural spaces have been acknowledged to benefit health for a long time. Horticultural therapy not only can provide green views as Roger Ulrich, mentioned in his article, “View through a window may influence recovery from surgery”, horticultural therapy can engage one’s mind and body which can use what we all need to be using: our minds and body helping us recover from serious trauma such as a stroke. Just like seeing the “view”, motivated a positive strive for recovery, creating the view yourself can do something similar if not more.

Some words from Jacqueline of Willoway Horticultural Services: “My own 25 years of professional market organic garden experiences and 8 years as a independent organic farm inspector has exposed her to numerous garden lessons and plant knowledge. After I encountered adult care facilities with little focus on plants and gardening, I felt there was an actual void there. Each of these places I visited could surely benefit to more plants, lush green spaces and horticultural therapy. Each garden can be a home to active pollinators creating habitats for hummingbirds and butterflies alike. Including the natural world in your living space and environment can provide a sense of comfort, understanding of the everyday world, and could provide a feeling well-being. With horticultural therapy activities, participants can assist in creating their outdoor environment and luring in pollinators into their gardens bringing nature closer. I have benefitted from what gardening does for me, and therefore it is my intention to continue to be active in gardening and helping others do the same. I want to see my life journey and other people’s journeys be able to access plants and natural spaces to enrich their lives.

As I gardened year after year, felt it provided a kind of therapy, and looking ahead I wanted all to be able to achieve that feeling through gardening and enable your loved ones to be able to attain these therapies. I pursued education in horticultural therapy beginning in autumn 2021 and successfully earned a 2022 certificate in Horticultural Therapy by the Horticultural Therapy Institute acknowledged by American Horticultural Therapy Association. If you peruse our website you can see all the results of our plant knowledge.

It has been reported by 2020, 1 in every 5 residents 9 in the United States will be at retirement age (According to US Census). It is this a reality, and the reality of people needing nature and plants to live an enriched quality of life drive the need for these services. Plants as a source of activities for therapy will be needed even more as the 65 years old population grows. It is a long-term dream of mine to be able to design and host a multifaceted garden with 3 distinct garden types all ages of the community can benefit from, to be able to reach the goals of everyone interweaving the retired aged adults with the youth. The elders spending time with youth can instill energy and a refreshing perspective on activities. “

Willoway Horticultural therapy wants to provide the right program with safe, and sustainable goals aligning with the participant’s needs and participant’s support teams’ conclusion of needs. Horticultural Therapy uses plants, gardens and nature with a gardening and plant care approach to continue the therapy needed in reaching long term and short-term goals . Willoway Horticultural Therapy Services can ensure a gardening experience accessible for all types of physical capabilities. Our programs will support cognitive exploration and stimulation, while providing a sense of purpose. Having a safe and optimal point of reference for your personal sustainability, growth and improvements is important and will be a priority in our horticultural therapy program. Engaging in social opportunities is embedded in the program and can include family, friends and the staff.

Horticultural therapy can provide an environment promoting well- being and enriching the quality of life. Programs are all inclusive and can be organized around the willingness and interest of the community. Plants have healing and metaphysical properties, and can be used to ground yourself, allow one to focus on a goal. Children and adults alike can complete activities and be creative in the garden activities offered in the program.

 The horticultural therapy program can be applied year-round for Challenged children and adults alike, Independent Living Residents, Assisted Living and Memory/Dementia Residents. We take into consideration each individual goals and needs, and provide the additional welcome for staff, visiting families and friends of the residences to participate in garden and various projects centered around plants such as sensory plants or pollinator habitat type plants. Gardens with pollinator insects and pollinator creatures like the hummingbird enhance the living environments of all besides natural views aiding the mind to be at ease. Using such plants also promote opportunities to improve cognitive and memory stimulation. Willoway Horticulture Therapy Services can bring planning expertise to an established a sensory garden for assisted living residents, independent living homes and memory care resident areas. We would love to collaborate with established Adult Centers and homes who may have members who would want to participate in horticultural therapy indoors during the winter or outdoors in the warmer months.

An example of where you can find plants providing a beneficiary outcome with people is a study, An Environmental Approach to Positive Emotion: Flowers at Rutgers University, by Dr. Jeannette Haviland-Jones (First published January 1, 2005), in a behavioral research study determined that “The presence of flowers triggers happy emotions, heightens feelings of life satisfaction and affects social behavior in a positive manner far beyond what was previously believed.” It is research like this that drives my continued interest in this field.

Contact us now for a free consultation and review on you and your loved ones goals. *return home with a in-season sample plant based activity treasure. *Review examples of activities that may be perfect for your loved one or yourself.

Perhaps access to a garden is non- existent or limited. Let Willoway Horticultural Therapy Service bring the garden to you or work with you to create one. From planning stages, seed sourcing, gardening successions, and strategies in pest and disease management to harvest techniques all of these activities can be used with your participation to sustain your strength, use your mind, provide a sense of peace and calm. Plants and human have a long history and just because you are not near it does not mean it should not be a part of your therapy to recovery or sustainable independence.

Sir David Attenborough once said:

“Connect with Nature in any way you can. Contact with the natural world isn’t a luxury – it is actually a necessity for all of us. All we know about the natural world gives us pleasure, delight, expertise, continuous interest throughout the year – joy on many occasions and solace on sad ones. Knowing about the natural world and being in contact with it is the most precious inheritance that human beings can have.”

CONTACT INFO:

Jacqueline Fulcomer

Artisanal Gardener, Provider of Horticultural Therapy Services and Farmer/Florist.

willowayhts@gmail.com

262-692-9691

(1)Ulrich RS. View through a window may influence recovery from surgery. Science. 1984 Apr 27;224(4647):420-1. doi: 10.1126/science.6143402. PMID: 6143402.

(2)Haviland-Jones, J. An Environmental Approach to Positive Emotion: Flowers 2005- June; 3:104-132 human-nature.com/ep