Discover How Horticulture & Gardening Can Help with Healing
Horticulture is in a unique position when it comes to therapy. People with a range of ailments from physical handicap to mental health problems, the visually impaired and infirm can all benefit from it. But so too can healthy people, including children and the elderly. Horticulture offers opportunities to feel at one with nature. You can grow plants, create designs and stimulate the senses through fragrant plants, brightly coloured plants and those which feel wonderful to touch.
This course is designed to have generic appeal. Whether you are coming from a horticulture background or from the caring professions, this course will appeal. Learn about how to design therapeutic gardens for people with all sorts of problems. Find out about working with individuals and groups and setting up therapy sessions. Learn how to match tasks and people, safe practices, and ethical and legal considerations. Discover how to make horticulture therapy a viable proposition.
What the Course Covers
There are 9 lessons in this course:
- Scope and Nature of Horticultural Therapy
- Understanding Disabilities and Communicating with people with disabilities
- Communication, Teaching and Counseling Skills
- Risk Management -Hygiene for vulnerable people, What extra risks are to be considered in a therapy situation.... chemical, physical
- Accessibility and Activities for people with Mobility issues (eg. wheelchairs, on crutches,
- Enabling the Disabled -with restricted motor skills
- Producing Things –Vegetables, Propagation, Fruit, Herbs
- Growing in Containers -Vertical gardens, pots, Hydroponics
- Creating a Therapeutic Garden
- Generating Income
Workload
Study when, where and however much you want. For most students, the course can be completed with a total of around 100 hours of study; and a commitment close to that may be needed to achieve desired learning outcomes.
Extra Reading
The following books, available through this web site may be relevant supplementary reading for this course:
- Getting Work in Horticulture
- Garden Design Part 1
- Garden Design Part 2
- Scented Plants
Assessment
Self Assessment Tests are presented throughout the course. These are essentially an automated quiz. When you undertake a "SAT" or "Self Assessment Test", you will be able to see what you got correct, and what was incorrect; and in that way, you can identify your weaknesses.
Assignments are given at the end of each lesson. You should complete this assignment, paying careful attention to follow what is asked of you. It can be just as important to learn to work to specification, as it is to learn about the topic you are studying. Graduates who develop a habit of working to specification with vegetable growing, will impress others, and will be more efficient when self employed.
A Final Exam is offered upon satisfactory completion of all assignments. This is optional. If you choose to apply for and do this exam, you will have the possibility of obtaining a "formal credit" or "Pass Certification" for this course. A fee applies. The exam may be sat under prearranged conditions anywhere in the world. This college will award you a formal transcript, upon successful completion of the exam, as proof of your results.
Recognition and Ethics
This college is a member of the ACS Affiliates Network; a group of colleges from several countries, affiliated with each other through ACS Distance Education.. Courses are developed with input from all of these colleges, aspiring to reflect internationally accepted standards and needs.
A strict "No Plagiarism" and "No fraud" policy exists. Assignments are checked for plagiarism, and assignments will not be deemed to have been completed, if work is not your own original creation, and is found to have been copied from elsewhere. If the person doing the course is discovered to be different to the name enrolled, the enrolment and any results will be recorded as invalid and any fees paid will be forfeited.
Refund Policy
A full refund less expenses (up to 15% of fees applied) is provided to anyone wishing to withdraw from a course, within 2 weeks of enrolment. This does not apply after the first assignment has been submitted and marked; or after the two weeks has expired.
WHAT IS DIFFERENT ABOUT THIS INSTITUTION?
We believe that we have an ethical responsibility to make good use of the fees you pay and the time you invest into an education through our college. To this end, our first priority is always your learning. This comes before issues such as formal accreditations, speculative marketing and bureaucratic processes which all too often add considerable costs to the running of colleges, and take resources away from the provision of more valuable services to the student.
This college focuses on facilitating your learning and support to optimise that learning. We recognise that learning is all about improving knowledge and skills in your long term memory. While some colleges may focus on getting you to pass exams, by committing knowledge to short term memory; we understand that such an approach is not true education, and does little to improve your long term career or business prospects.
How This Course Could Help You
This course is geared towards people working in the horticulture or landscaping industries, or in the caring professions or related fields who would like to get involved in the design, running or maintenance of therapeutic gardens or who are interested in offering horticulture therapy services.
Study this course by itself or along with other counselling, garden design or horticulture subjects to enhance your understanding of the industry and expand your skills.