Do you know a senior who loves to garden and would enjoy participating in shared gardening activities with a new friend?
For years, Earthwise Society’s therapeutic horticulture programs have helped people connect to the natural world through gardening.
This winter, Earthwise trained nearly two-dozen eager volunteers through its six-session Garden Buddies mentor training program, and now, the new mentors are ready to put their training to good use at a meet and greet event, held at the new Earthwise Teaching Garden on Monday, May 16 from 10:30 a.m. to noon.
Garden Buddies is a gardening together therapeutic horticulture program designed to improve physical activity, mental well-being, and social connectedness in isolated seniors. Seniors are paired with trained mentors to participate in shared gardening and nature-based activities at home and at the Earthwise Garden. The mentor training program taught new volunteers all the skills necessary to work with and empower seniors in the garden and offered them some inspiration on developing engaging therapeutic horticulture activities for senior gardeners.
The meet and greet will be held in Earthwise Society’s newly developed Garden Buddies Teaching Garden, a beautiful and accessible space designed with the needs of senior gardeners in mind. The event will offer an introduction to the Garden Buddies program, and seniors and mentors will participate in some fun and creative gardening activities together, led by Katie McGillivray, Registered Horticultural Therapist. This will be followed by some refreshments in the garden and a chance to mingle.
This event is open to seniors who are looking to get out into the garden and connect with others, and anyone who is interested in learning more about the benefits of therapeutic horticulture. For more information and to register, please email [email protected].
