Design and Design Elements for Healing Gardens
A restorative environment is crafted by a careful arrangement of a variety of sensory, psychological and natural stimuli in an effort to trigger the following responses:
- To bring the visitor to the moment by connecting to something outside the body (a sensory experience or connection with nature)
- To bring the visitor to an awareness of an environment bigger than “the problem” to regain a sense of perspective and control (psychological stimuli)
What should be included in a healing garden to make it a truly healing environment? This course looks at a variety of design concepts that are translated into the materials, plants and layouts that make a garden.
Clare Cooper Marcus provides a clarification on what a healing environment really is: “ The term “Healing Garden” refers to a variety of garden features that have in common a consistent tendency to foster restoration from stress and have other positive influences on patients, visitors and staff or caretakers. To qualify as a “garden” the feature should contain prominent amounts of real nature…. To justify the label “healing” a garden should have therapeutic or beneficial effects on the great majority of its users.”
This class explores a variety of sensory, natural and psychological stimuli that can be included in a healing garden. A star diagram looks at social, spiritual, cultural, educational and physical elements that help to regain balance and reduce stress. Guidelines provided by Theresia Hazen, a well published Horticultural Therapist at the Legacy Center in Portland are illustrated by examples from around the country.1 Hour
