Horticultural therapy — or the practice of gardening to promote well-being — has been used in a variety of treatment settings, including mental health and addiction rehabilitation programs. Horticultural therapy offers a wide range of benefits for people in recovery. Here are a few, shared with Addiction.com by leading therapists, including Hilary Moses:

“There are rich metaphors [between horticultural therapy and recovery]. For example, when you weed a garden, you need to get to the root of the weed to really make a serious dent … If you just pluck the problem from the surface it will flourish below and get more and more difficult to manage. Horticultural therapy also puts [patients] in a caregiving position when they feel like they can’t care for anything, let alone themselves. They learn the nuances of caretaking … they are able to learn through discovering and taking risks (which builds resilience in the brain), with minimal consequences.” – Hilary Moses, LCSW, transition specialist, parent coach and co-owner of Solutions Transitional Support, LLC

Susan Jara, 4/22/15 https://www.addiction.com/9065/earth-day-2015-planting-the-seeds-of-recovery/ Addiction.com