North Carolina Botanical Garden Hybrid Lunchbox Talk: Therapeutic Horticulture: A Gateway to Healing & Connection with the Natural World
with Emilee Weaver, NCBG Therapeutic Horticulture Program Manager
Date: Thursday, June 22, 2023
Time: 12:00 PM-1:00 PM EST
Location: Hybrid - Virtual and In-person attendance options (see below for more information)
Free; $5 suggested fee; preregistration required
This program will be delivered in a hybrid format.
In-person option: Seats are available in the Reeves Auditorium. Please register all members of your party separately to ensure we have enough seats.
Virtual option: We will stream the lecture live via Zoom Webinar. Links for accessing the program will be emailed to registered participants in advance of the program.
Therapeutic horticulture (TH) is an intervention that uses plants and nature-based activities to work towards personal goals. Through TH, diverse groups of participants are enabled to reach their individual physical, cognitive, psychological, social, spiritual, and/or vocational goals using adaptive tools, techniques, activities, and environments.
Who would you be and how would you be affected if you completely lost or had minimal ability to connect with the natural world physically, cognitively, or emotionally? How would it feel to live in a sterile institution, a hospital bed, or a body or mind that confines you to your own home or thoughts? We are all just an accident, illness, or a few years of the aging process away from being faced with these possibilities and millions of people are already coping with this experience every day. TH is the professionally facilitated gateway that enables and empowers those who desire a connection with Nature to regain access and function within natural environments.
Join Emilee Weaver as she provides a general overview of why, how, when, and where TH is practiced and discover how the NC Botanical Garden is addressing community needs with this innovative new approach to physical and mental health and wellbeing through education and direct services.
Interested in learning more about NCBG's Therapeutic Horticulture program or have a desire to integrate TH practices into your current or future profession? Take a look at our website and/or join our TH Interest List here.
Registration open through 6/22/2023 11:50 AM
Emilee Weaver has been a professional horticulturist for 24 years in five different states/climates in the U.S. Fourteen of those years have been spent as a horticultural therapist and consultant. Stemming from a formalized education in social work, years of in-field horticulture experience, and a horticultural therapy certificate from the Horticultural Therapy Institute of Denver, she has developed and managed numerous HT programs involving a variety of populations and settings. Most notably, she developed a therapeutic/vocational horticultural therapy program at a high-security treatment facility for adolescent girls, a military veteran reintegration program at Denver Botanic Gardens, and managed an HT program at a 400 bed, state-managed psychiatric hospital in North Carolina. She currently serves as the Therapeutic Horticulture Program Manager at the North Carolina Botanical Garden, providing direct services to community organizations and managing the on-site and online TH educational programs offered by the Garden. Emilee has spoken at national conferences and symposiums in efforts to spread the importance of sound program development practices that support the longevity and efficacy of TH/HT programs. She co-authored the HT textbook, “The Profession and Practice of Horticultural Therapy” which was published in 2019. She is enthusiastic about supporting a thriving local and national TH/HT community in the U.S and beyond.
Seats are available in the Reeves Auditorium. The program will also be streamed
live on Zoom webinar. A meeting link and password will be sent a few days before the program.
For directions to the Garden, visit ncbg.unc.edu/directions
