horticultural therapy

7 am today, when i was watering my garden, my bare feet tickled by the morning dew, i thought, why not do a quick write-up about horticultural therapy?

so i googled the term and on the first site that came up, i clicked on "what is horticultural therapy?", this is what i found:

"There are four elements that are essential for an activity to qualify as horticultural therapy if it is to be considered a profession eligible for the same status as other caring professions.

• a defined treatment procedure that focuses on horticultural or gardening activities
• a client with a diagnosed problem who is in treatment for that problem
• a treatment goal that can be measured and evaluated
• a qualified professional to deliver the treatment"

doesn't that sound ... errr ... exciting?

no?

it doesn't really tell me what horticultural therapy is. it focuses completely on the profession (another term that i think of is "priesthood") of horticultural therapy. apparently, these pries ... i mean therapists are just like "other caring professions".

so what do they care about? defined treatment procedures. aaah, there's someone who needs to be treated! who might that be? a client with a diagnosed problem. right. if you have priests, you need sheeple. and these sheeple need problems - not just any problem, mind you: it needs to be diagnosed. with the bibl ... i mean, with the DSM IV, presumably. next we care about treatment goals, and not just any treatment goal - it needs to be measured! no treatment goals, no therapy. and get out your measuring tapes, guys! and for heaven's sake, if the prie ... i mean the therapist who administers the treatment isn't qualified - just imagine the jungle of a mess that would create! i also wonder, is it considered beneficial to administer fertilizers and psychiatric medication at the same time?

oh, and did you notice the word "status" in there?

there's probably a lot of wonderful, truly caring horticutural therapists out there, and i am sorry if i offended them. it's just when i read something like the above description (which doesn't even answer the question), my bile rises. it brings up so much of what's wrong with mental health professions.

what does this say about me? am i getting a kick out of criticizing some of my colleagues? where do i commit the same errors as they do?

i'll reflect on this next time i dig around in my garden. the one that i call my "nature overcomes civilization project".

isabella mori
counselling in vancouver
www.moritherapy.com