Austin-Bailey Health & Wellness Grant Builds Greenhouse For Garden Therapy Program
WOOSTER, OHIO - It looks just like any normal garden this time of year. The potatoes are pretty much done. Tomato vines are hanging low with plenty of fruit. The flower garden is thick and colorful. And just like everyone's garden, The Village Network - Boys' Village Campus garden provides a peaceful form of therapy in addition to good eats!
Now thanks to a recent $15,000 grant from the Austin-Bailey Health & Wellness Foundation out of Canton, Ohio, garden therapy at The Village Network will become a year-round activity. The funds will be used to build a greenhouse and purchase the needed items to start an expanded horticulture therapy program.
"This is a wonderful testimony to the boys who have worked hard inside the program, not just in the care of the produce and flowers, but in lessons that will help them live more responsible lives," said Brooke Winkler, Clinical Therapist for the Day Treatment program.
The Village Network is a private, nonprofit organization specializing in the treatment and care of troubled and traumatized youth. The Boys' Village Campus is one of 11 networks of care throughout the state offering residential, day treatment, foster care and alternative schooling.
TVN's garden therapy program started with a grant from The Charity School of Kendal, Massillon, Ohio, according to Reza Khoramshahi, foundation-government funding manager at TVN. In accordance with the initial grant, fifty percent of the proceeds from the sale of the products are returned to the garden project. A portion of the dollars are deposited into individual savings accounts for each youth in the garden program and a portion is used to fund group activities such as ball games and other field trips.
All the boys in The Village Network (TVN) Day Treatment program participate in planting, caring and harvesting two gardens according to Winkler. She and David Schmidt, Ph.D. and retired botanist, work as a team with the garden therapy project.
"I'm the therapist, Dave's the gardener," said Winkler. "It's a good team. Together we have expanded the program from small, individual plots to a group garden and community outreach opportunities and there is so much more we want to do."
Garden therapy is not a new concept. Finding peace while gardening has been around for years. Today experts agree the pastime is a great form of occupational therapy. Winkler utilizes the garden in group and individual therapy. The boys spend two days a week in the 7,500-square-foot plot and on the weekends sell the produce at the Wooster Farmer's Market.
The TVN Day Treatment program is for youth ages 10 to 18-years-old in need of intensive mental health services in conjunction with academic instruction. It is also available for youth stepping down from residential treatment said Winkler. Many of the youth reside in treatment foster care homes. The average age at the Boys' Village Campus Day Treatment is 16 and there are currently 14 boys in the local program but there have been as many as 18.
The youth are from all across the state. Currently there are boys from Wayne, Stark, Summit, Cuyahoga, Geauga and Delaware counties. The garden offers many opportunities to work side-by-side in a safe environment and talk about the trauma that has occurred in their young lives according to Winkler.
You can see the excitement and dedication on the boys' faces when you watch them work in the garden but it wasn't always that way according to Schmidt. The idea had to grow on them and the turning point was one of nature's adversaries - the potato beetle!
Schmidt is a supporter of limited chemical and pesticide usage on the TVN plots. So when the infamous potato beetle infiltrated the boys' garden, all hands were needed to pick them off.
"The team rallied around a common threat, worked together for the betterment of the group and then created a business plan to sell the produce," said Winkler. "They have ownership in the garden, serve on small work teams such as labor, marketing and budgeting and hold each other accountable."
Both Winkler and Schmidt are quick to add the success of the garden therapy program does not rest with them. The staff at the Wooster campus and particularly the day treatment staff have been instrumental according to Winkler. Everyone regularly purchases produce and flowers on Friday afternoons and TVN staff rotate Saturdays at the Farmer's Market booth.
Winkler has high hopes and big plans for the garden therapy program and the greenhouse was the next needed step. TVN is currently looking to The Ohio State University Agricultural Technical Institute (OSU/ATI), located in Wooster, for technical support and student mentors.
"This program has solid therapy benefits and it also teaches teamwork, responsibility, budgeting, marketing and horticultural skills," said Winkler. "The greenhouse provides opportunities in many directions. More youth will be able to participate now that it can expand to year-round. The program can also strengthen the vocational training model to provide the participants with real work experience for their resumes."
Austin-Bailey's mission is to promote programs that support the physical and mental well being of those in Holmes, Stark, Tuscarawas, and Wayne counties, and the foundation was formed in late 1996 from the sale of Doctors Hospital in Massillon.
The Charity School of Kendal was established in 1826 as a result of the will of Charity Rotch. The purpose of the foundation is to help raise and educate children in need.
The Village Network has been focused on shaping productive, responsible youth for over 60 years and has an award-winning history of success. Together with families, support agencies and communities, The Village Network treats and prepares youth to embrace new, productive lives. For more information, visit http://www.thevillagenetwork.org/.