The Ah-Ha Moment

Brendan Yukins

Brendan Yukins (he/his) is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and AASECT-certified sex therapist in Chicago, IL. He specializes in intimacy after sexual & intimate partner violence. Brendan found horticultural therapy through Chase Park Community Garden, where he served as president for 9 years. He is a Board member of the American Horticultural Therapy Association, hosting community meetings for HTs to consult with each other across time zones. Outside of work, Brendan is a drag uncle for the House of Banks, a proud father of one kitty and one pitbull, and a loving husband to his wife, Ziggy. He gardens bonsai on his back porch.

Angie Girdham

Angie Girdham is a green industry professional with 30 years of experience, having worked in many aspects of the horticultural industry: cultivating, teaching, research, and most everything in between. Over the last 20 years she built a successful and thriving horticulture department at a local liberal arts college. With an interest in mental health and youth at risk, she took the journey to becoming an HTR; approved for  registration in 2010. Witnessing the positive impact that frequent interactions with nature had over her student crew inspired Angie to work with their health center to create a horticultural therapy program.

She is on the board of directors for the Michigan Horticultural Therapy Association; acting as the membership coordinator, helping with website updates, and social media posts. Angie also represents the Michigan Horticultural Therapy Association regional group in quarterly meetings with the national organization. She lives in southern Michigan with her husband of 27 years and a very spoiled Frenchie. Recently starting a new career as trials coordinator for a national seed company. 

Eleanor Moriarty Wroath

Eleanor Moriarty Wroath from Hope Springs Gardening (founded in 2021)  is a freelance social and therapeutic horticulture practitioner based in the UK. 

 

She has a degree in English Literature from the University of Durham and worked as an actor in theatre, TV and radio for many years in the UK. Whilst living in America and raising her family, she retrained, gaining a certificate in Horticultural Therapy from the Horticultural Therapy Institute and on her return to the UK in 2019 was awarded the Royal Horticultural Society's Level II qualification in practical horticulture.

 

Her work covers three areas:  

 

• Delivering gardening workshops to bereavement support organizations, in person and online for families and individuals experiencing grief
• Gardening activities co-ordinator at TWIGS Community Garden in Swindon, a charity which supports people experiencing a wide range of mental health issues using social and therapeutic horticulture, including a dementia friendly gardening group
• Delivering 'gardening for wellbeing' workshops to the public
• Therapeutic gardening sessions in elementary schools and preschools for children with additional social and emotional needs

 

 

www.hopespringsgardening.org.uk

Facebook @hopespringsgardening 

Instagram @hopespringsgardening 

SEASON 6: Rachel Boyers

Rachel holds a BS from Cornell University and MLA from the University of Pennsylvania, both in landscape architecture. After 10 years of experience as a landscape architect, Rachel’s journey shifted with the birth of her son with special health needs, whom she found delighted in the sensations he experienced while in her garden. Rachel’s new path included 19 years supporting families of children with disabilities, and a certification in horticultural therapy from the New York Botanical Garden. She is also a University of Vermont Osher Center Integrative Health and Wellness Coaching trainee. In spring of 2023, she joined the University of Vermont Medical Center’s Culinary Medicine team, in her current role as Garden Educator. Rachel feels fortunate to be bringing programming to an organization that supported her family through her child’s many medical challenges.

Rachel believes that there is an undeniable link between the mind/body and the natural world, and that this relationship is critical to one's mental and physical health and well-being. Her goal as Garden Educator is to build community and ensure that the therapeutic benefits of gardening and a strong connection to nature are accessible to everyone.

 

Rachel.Boyers@uvmhealth.org

 

 

Kirk Hines; part 2

We brought back Kirk Hines, HTR from A. G. Rhodes to show off some of his newly installed gardens.   

 

Check out the episode on YouTube to view the gardens.  

 

https://youtu.be/QepN9NogD5k

 

 

Anne Meore Part 2

 This episode we brought back Anne Meore to talk about some of her programs that she is doing now.  Check out pictures and video on our new YOUTUBE channel

 

https://www.youtube.com/@ahhaMomentHT 

Season 5 Kick off: National Horticultural Therapy Week 2024 with previous guests!

This episode we invited 5 guests back to talk about what they have been doing!  Debra Edwards from season 1, Colleen Griffin season 2, Derrick Stowell, Richard Slayton and Markus Wullimunn from season 3.  

 

Derrick's recent project: 

https://utgardens.tennessee.edu/locations/knoxville/horticultural-therapy-outreach/sow-to-grow/#:~:text=Sow%20to%20Grow%20is%20a,3%20through%20June%2024%2C%202024.&text=Hosted%20by%20UT%20Gardens%2C%20Sow,variety%20of%20fun%20gardening%20activities.

 

Colleen's website: 

https://www.cultivatingwell-being.com/

 

Richard's LinkedIN: 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/richard-slayton-rla-ahta-a125b22a

 

Markus' work: 

https://www.cooperriis.org/

 

Debra's LinkedIN: 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/debraaedwards

 

 

If you want to learn more about the horticultural therapy profession visit 

 the American Horticultural Therapy Association website www.ahta.org 

 

 

 

 

Tim Garland

LAST EPISODE OF 2023

 

TIM R. GARLAND, RLA

Owner, Board Certified and Registered Landscape Architect

With more than 40 years of experience in landscape architecture, Tim brings a fresh perspective and a passion for environmental sustainability to every project. His extensive background in commercial, residential and therapeutic sectors has earned him a reputation for versatility and design with purpose and conscience. The scope of his work ranges from neighborhood backyards and school playgrounds to large corporate headquarters and medical centers.

Tim has served as an advisor and consultant to numerous municipalities, public agencies and institutions, ranging from the City of Milwaukee to the Washington Island Township. Active in the communities where he lives and works, he’s held several civic board positions, including serving on the Parks Committee for the Village of Shorewood. He currently sits on the board of the ElderGarten Senior Community Garden in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Tim had served three years on the board of directors and is still a member of the American Horticultural Therapy Association, the only U.S. organization committed to promoting and developing the practice of horticultural therapy as a unique and dynamic human service modality.

Tim received his Healthcare Garden Design Certification from the Chicago Botanical Gardens in 2015. As a champion of healthcare design based on scientific research, he welcomes challenges and strives to emulate Mother Nature’s calming and healing influence in the urban environment. Whether the space is small or large, newly constructed or renovated, his designs always reconnect people and plants, in personal and universal ways.

Professional Memberships

• Board of Directors - Elder Garden Senior Community, Kenosha, WI

• Member - American Horticultural Therapy Association

• Member - American Society of Landscape Architects

• Member – Wisconsin Nursery Association

Education

• UW-Madison – Bachelor’s Degree, Landscape Architecture

• Healthcare Garden Design Certification – Chicago Botanical Gardens

 

Diana Sette

Diana Sette is the Horticultural Therapist at University Hospitals Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital in Cleveland, OH.  At the hospital, she cares for a 7,500 square foot healing garden while also providing horticultural therapy services for patients and caregivers throughout the hospital in groups and at bed-side.  Diana received a certificate in Horticultural Therapy from the Horticultural Therapy Institute.  She also holds certificates in Ecotherapy, as both a Permaculture Designer & Teacher, and is a proud supporter of the National Wildlife Federation’s Certified Wildlife Habitat program.  In 2021 and 2022, Diana was honored as a Healthcare Hero by Flying Horse Farms, and selected as an Ohio Herbal Elder by United Plant Savers.  Prior to working at UH, Diana worked for Holden Forests & Gardens as the Community Forester leading their vocational Tree Corps program, and as the Youth Manager of Green Corps, an urban agriculture program for teens. 

 

In addition to her therapeutic work with plants, Diana is a deep ecology interdisciplinary artist who integrates natural materials into sculpture, masks, costumes, visual art work, and performing art pieces.  Recently, she received an Urgent Art Fund and Ohio Arts Council Artist Award to support interdisciplinary artwork that she created in response to issues surrounding ecological collapse, climate change and our connection with Nature.  For many years, Diana lived and worked with the political Bread and Puppet Theater & Farm, touring and performing throughout the US, Canada, Europe, and Asia.  Diana has been a sought-out speaker, teacher and interviewed by various media outlets including NPR and local news, with her published writing found in the Journal for Medicinal Plant Conservation, Permaculture Design Magazine, Hyperallergic, A Race Anthology: Dispatches from a Segregated City, and been highlighted in The Atlantic.

 

Diana is a passionate community activist, fighting for equity and access to Nature.  She serves as an appointee on her neighborhood’s Ward 15 Tree Canopy Steering Committee, and is currently involved in an active campaign to save the historic Cudell Commons Park in Cleveland. 

 

Though at the end of the day, what Diana is most passionate about is being the mother of her inspiring daughter Rosemary.  She loves spending time with her and their kitties, marveling insects, making music and dancing. More at dianasette.wordpress.com.

 

Kirk Hines

Kirk W. Hines, HTR, is a registered horticultural therapist and
Director of Horticultural Therapy at A.G. Rhodes, a nonprofit organization providing therapy and rehabilitation services, short-term recovery and long-term care at three metro Atlanta locations.

Kirk founded the Horticultural Therapy program at A.G. Rhodes when he began working there in 2013. Kirk also founded the Horticultural Therapy program at Wesley Woods Hospital, operated by Emory Healthcare, where he worked for 21 years prior to joining
A.G. Rhodes.

Kirk has been a member of the American Horticultural Therapy Association (AHTA) since 1993. He graduated from Berry College with a BS in Ornamental Horticulture/Horticultural Therapy Concentration and completed his practicum and internship in Horticultural Therapy at Northwest Georgia Regional Hospital.

A frequent lecturer at colleges, universities, professional organizations and garden societies, Kirk also educates students and interns in allied healthcare professions. He is a past national Board of Directors member of the AHTA, a charter executive Board of Directors member of the Georgia-Alabama Chapter of the AHTA and its 1999-2002 President. Articles on horticultural therapy, Wesley Woods of Emory Healthcare and A.G.

Rhodes programs have appeared in numerous professional journals, theses, popular periodicals, online, and in print and broadcast media, including television segments that have appeared both locally and nationally.

 

to contact: khines@agrhodes.org

 

to learn more about A.G.Rhodes: 

A.G. Rhodes is Atlanta’s premier provider of therapy and rehabilitation services, short-term recovery and long-term care. As one of Atlanta’s oldest nonprofits, A.G. Rhodes has set the standard for serving an aging community since 1904. With a dedicated staff of 600, we accommodate more than 1,200 seniors a year at our three homes located in Cobb, DeKalb and Fulton counties.
Our mission is to provide expert and compassionate rehabilitation therapy and residential care to seniors in metro Atlanta. For more information, visit www.agrhodes.org