Therapeutic Horticulture
Therapeutic Horticulture Workshops
When you’re longing for connection to yourself, others, and nature, these monthly workshops help improve your wellbeing through activities using plants and the natural world.
Cultivating Connections
Are you looking for…
A place to be your authentic self?
Fun with plants and nature?
Community with other passionate plant folks?
Meaningful conversations, insight, and reflection?
Then join Green Circle Collective’s Therapeutic Horticulture Workshops!
We’re getting started soon!
Next cohort begins Sunday, January 15, 2023 at 2:00pm at The Discovery Center
3401 Reservoir Drive, Philadelphia, PA 19121
People who love plants are curious, thoughtful, and introspective.
It’s almost impossible to work with plants or enjoy nature and not have those qualities. But our culture rarely values these qualities in our fast-paced, screen-heavy lives. It can be challenging to find spaces that welcome these qualities without trying to exploit them. If you’re looking for a place to enjoy fun, plant-based activities with other folks that are searching for genuine connection, then you’ve come to the right place.
What’s included?
Each Therapeutic Horticulture Workshop includes:
Three monthly 90-minute workshops (held of the third Sunday of each month at 2pm)
Therapeutic horticulture activity with all supplies included
Facilitated discussion to deepen the experience and connection to other members
Closed group for the entire quarter - you’ll get to know the other participants well over the three months together
First access to additional therapeutic horticulture offerings and information
Only $99 per workshop
(billed monthly)
What makes these workshops unique?
Closed Cohorts
Every member commits to the quarter, so you’ll be with the same group members for three months. This allows you to create a thriving community and sustain connections with others who have similar interests and passions as you do while maintaining safety and integrity of the group. After the quarter is over, you have the first chance to continue into the next cohort if you choose to stay on.
Purposeful Activities
There are lots of wonderful places in and around Philadelphia where you can take a class to learn about plants or participate in plant culture, but these therapeutic horticulture workshops are intentionally designed to get you to think about more than just the finished product. While spending time with plants or in nature is inherently therapeutic, the workshops are created for you to get the most out of the experience.
Nature as Your Guide
Plants and nature provide so many wonderful opportunities to go deeper and explore ourselves, our relationships, our values, and our pain in gentle and approachable ways. Every activity is thoughtfully designed to allow you to contemplate the deeper meanings and metaphors brought to you from the natural world while you enjoy the human and biophillic connections. There will always be a chance to reflect with the group about your experience and how you can apply what you learned into your everyday life.
Themes we discuss may include seasonality, growth and growing conditions, symbiotic relationships, and intentionality.
Expertly Facilitated
I (Tina Kocol) am a certified group psychotherapist, licensed counselor, Philadelphia Master Gardener, and current student in the Barnes Arboretum’s three year horticulture program. I also have certificates in ecopsychology (Pacifica Graduate Institute) and horticulture therapy (Delaware Valley University). Helping people sustain mental and emotional wellness is my vocation and gardening/plants are my passion. I designed these workshops with my years of mental health and group facilitation experience to help people reconnect to nature, each other, themselves, and the community.
Each month you’ll get to experience a different horticultural activity, which may include:
Kokedamas
Flower Arranging
Terrariums
Natural Dyes
Botanical Stamp Making
Kitchen Compost Bins
Herbal Heating Pads
Botanical Origami
Herbal Infusions
Flower and Leaf Pressing
Painting with foraged plants
Propagation Stations
Seed Starting
Foraging
Pumpkin Carving
Moss Gardens
FAQ
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We will be meeting at the Discovery Center in East Fairmount Park, located at 3401 Reservoir Drive, Philadelphia, PA 19121.
This is the home to Philadelphia Outward Bound and the Mid-Atlantic Audubon. You can come early and take a rejuvenating walk on their nature trails or have a sit next to the reservoir pond. It’s an amazing place and I am excited to host these workshops here!
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Nope! These workshops are designed for anyone who’s enthusiastic about plants - all levels of plant experience and expertise are welcome!
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While I am a therapist and am trained in mental health therapy and horticultural therapy, these groups are not therapy. A horticultural therapy group is designed to have specific treatment goals or outcomes. Therapeutic horticulture workshops are for learning, connection, and self-exploration using plants and the natural world as our guides. You may get therapeutic benefit out of these workshops (meaning you have improvements in your life and a reduction of symptoms, like stress, anxiety, or depression) but that is not the intent or promise of these workshops.
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Nope!
My role in these workshops is facilitator. I facilitate (or create ease) for the group by providing and organizing the activities - including supplies and instructions, and the conversations and meaning-making that the group creates in the discussion after the activity.
If you’re looking for a therapist that aligns with your passion as a plant-person, you can check out Philadelphia Ecotherapy’s practitioners at https://www.philadelphiaecotherapy.org/
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I understand why trying out a workshop to see if it is a good fit seems like a good idea, but as a facilitator with years of experience, I find it’s helpful to the group dynamics to have accountability and commitment from all members. Knowing who to expect at the next group helps deepen connections and allows folks to gain trust. This leads to more meaningful conversations and an overall better experience for all participants.
Still have questions? Send me an email!