“The impetus for my [research] was trying to create some structure for evaluation to hold [healthcare facilities] accountable for what [they] say is a ‘healing garden,’ when, in reality, is just some pavement with a potted plant struggling to survive,” said University of Maryland’s Dr. Naomi Sachs in her interview with Jennifer Jewell, the creator, writer and host of Cultivating Place, a public radio program and well-respected gardening podcast. Sachs is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Plant Science and Landscape Architecture and was hosted on the program late last week as a leading spokeswoman and researcher in the field of Therapeutic Landscapes.
This interview stems from Sachs’s early work writing the book Therapeutic Landscapes: An Evidence-based Approach to Designing Healing Gardens and Restorative Outdoor Spaces with UC Berkeley Professor Emerita Clare Cooper Marcus, and Sachs’s prior work founding Therapeutic Landscapes Network (TLN). The TLN is an international, multidisciplinary knowledge base and gathering space that provides information, education, advocacy, and inspiration about landscapes that promote health and well-being.
“If we can inculcate a love and nurturing for nature young and keep people passionate, then we have ensured everyone’s future.” - Dr. Naomi Sachs
The interview is most informative in describing the field of horticultural therapy and healing garden design from an institutional basis to the public. “I often start off with a broader definition of ‘landscapes for health,’ which is any landscape wild or designed, large or small that promotes human health and well-being,” Sachs said when asked to define a therapeutic garden.
Covering a wide variety of topics, the interview takes the listener through the complexity of what therapeutic gardening is, Sachs’s background and research, and the importance of therapeutic landscapes and horticultural therapy in light of the climate crisis. In the final minutes of her interview, Sachs said, “If we can inculcate a love and nurturing for nature young and keep people passionate, then we have ensured everyone’s future.”
Check out Dr. Sachs’s interview!
