Horticulture,
the art and science of growing plants, combined with therapy, a
media for helping people, is prevalent in many aspects of human
life.
There are many
definitions and examples as people and plants relate to each
other in many disciplines:
General
public
Youth
Geriatrics
Persons
with disabilities
First-time
offenders
Incarcerated
individuals
Drug and
alcohol rehabilitation programs
Homeless
population
Battered
& abused individuals
Alzheimer's
patients
Significant
Contributions to
Horticultural Therapy
Horticultural
Therapist within the Activity Therapy Department, Richard Young
Acute Short-Term Psychiatric Annex of the Lutheran Medical Center.
Designed
and developed a bicycling program for "Special Release" patients.
Named the program "Cycle-Therapy". - 1974-1976
Became a
Member of The National Council for Therapy and Rehabilitation
through Horticulture - 1975
Proposed
and initiated a horticultural training program to Father
Flannigan's Boy's Home, Boy's Town, Nebraska. - 1976-1984
Served on
the State Chapter's Committee of N.C.T.R.H.
Initiated
the development of the Great Plains Regional Chapter of N.C.T.R.H.
Received
Certificate of Registration as a Master Horticultural Therapist.
- October 1979
Vice-President
N.C.T.R.H.
Board
of Directors, N.C.T.R.H.
Received
National Award for "Most Outstanding Paper Presented in the
Area of Program Development".
Hosted Regional
Chapter N.C.T.R.H. Conference
President
- Great Plains Regional Chapter of the N.C.T.R.H.
Initiated
a horticultural Explorer Post, where Boy's Town youth did community
service projects for those less fortunate. This Explorer Post
was nominated and chosen for the Jefferson's Award for Community
Service and the Good Neighbor Citation from the Knights of Aksarben.
175 hours
of consultation for the Lutheran Medical Center in the field of
Program, Conservatory and Landscape Design
President
- National Council for Therapy and Rehabilitation through Horticulture
(N.C.T.R.H.) now known as the American Horticultural Therapy
Association (A.H.T.A.)
Designed
and developed the Division Director structure of N.C.T.R.H.
Board of
Directors of N.C.T.R.H.
Two presentations
to Arca XIII of Ceta on Communication and Job Retention
2 Two presentations
to Arca XIII of Ceta on Careers in Horticulture
Designed
Wheelchair Gardens for Haven House, a 180 bed geriatric facility
in Omaha, Nebraska
N.C.T.R.H.
recognized "Outstanding Paper in Program Development"
Established
an intern site for Father Flanagan's Home for Boys, Boy's
Town, Nebraska, with Kansas State University's Horticultural
Therapy Program.
NCTRH
Hosted the 8th Annual Conference for the NCTRH, and published
it's proceedings.
Speaker
for NCTRH Annual Conference
Authored
and published the Employment Training Program - "An
Employment Training Adjunct to the Family Teaching Model"
Authored
and published "The Boy's Town Horticultural Handbook
In the Oval Office, President Ronald Reagan extended his thanks
for joining into his incentive program to hire the developmentally
disabled.
Note
- During Reagan's presentation, he paused, approached me,
and grabbed my tie clip. As he raised the .22 caliber shell
with a turquoise tip, to my nose, he remarked, "Hmmm, I'm
very familiar with this shell."
(The
entire room exploded in laughter because that was the
caliber of shell that was used by Hinkley in his assassination
attempt)
In another office in the White House Margaret M. Heckler, Secretary,
U.S. Department of health and Human Services, recognized Me,
as President of the National Council for Therapy and Rehabilitation
through Horticulture (NCTRH), for outstanding commitment to
the employment of persons with developmental disabilities.
Addressed
approximately 300 participants at an assembly of the Friends
of the Denver Botanical Gardens.
Designed
and developed the "Basics" system
of daily evaluation of youth employment with
focus on positive advancement for Being-on time
/ Attire / Staying on task / Instruction following
/ Condition of work / Social skills.
Petitioned,
then Mayor Terry Goddard, to introduce horticultural therapy
to the Phoenix Metropolitan area. His recommendation was to
work with the Phoenix Desert Botanical Gardens.
Proposed
a Horticultural Therapy Program to the Phoenix Desert Botanical
Gardens, who hired me into the position of Director of Education.
Lectured
to representatives from all the Rehabilitation Facilities in
the State of Hawaii on the benefits of Horticultural Therapy.
- Maui Rehabilitation Center
Launched
Project S.E.E.D. (Service and Education through Environmental
Development), a program that rescued cactus from real
estate developers and reintroduced them back into the
Phoenix Mountain Preserve using first-time offenders,
the Easter Seal Society and the elderly.
Designed
a system that trained docents and identified desert plants to
the visitors of the Phoenix Desert Botanical Garden.
Designed
and presented the Horticultural Training Program for Mi Casa,
an Adult Assisted Living Program in east Mesa, Arizona.
Conference
Speaker/Presenter for the Second Southwest Region Community
and School/Youth Gardening Conference (Growing Awareness) February
26-28, 1999
This
greenhouse will act as the nucleus for a pilot Horticultural
Therapy project within the Phoenix Union High School District.
Mary
Throop, Instructor of Commercial Maintenance, is expanding her
progam to include Class in Horticulture and greenhouse management
and maintenance. The Phoenix Union High School offers education
for special populations.
We
are setting up an advisory board to help administrate the
direction and goals of this program. Arizona State University
has indicated interest in their new Horticultural Therapy
class being part of our project in either an internship or
lab studies curriculum.
Phoenix
Union High School is located on the Northwest corner of 19th
Ave and Thomas in Phoenix, Arizona.
Earth
Day 2000
April
20th was Earth day.
I hope
everyone did their part. I donated, assisted in the plating
of a tree, and gave a lecture to (22) 4th graders at Orangedale
Elementary School In Phoenix.
