by Carla Caruso

The rejuvenating benefits of time spent in nature can’t be ignored. Increasingly, “ecotherapy” is being employed as a preventative and restorative health strategy.

We spoke to two people working in this space in your Park Lands: the Botanic Gardens’ resident horticultural therapist, Emma Lewellyn, and counsellor Liv King, who was inspired by her past work with Uluru’s indigenous community to take her practice outdoors.  

As Emma says: “Something that the pandemic has brought to the forefront of many people’s awareness is just how important and healing our relationship with nature is. 

“Gardening activities, green spaces and nature are beneficial for everyone. We are nature. Nurturing that relationship and reconnecting, whatever form that takes, is going to have a positive impact on our health and wellbeing.”

Here are our chats with Emma and Liv (please note, they’ve been edited for brevity).

Emma Lewellyn, the practicing horticultural therapist at South Australia Botanic Gardens and State Herbarium

“A horticultural therapy practitioner is someone who uses gardening activities, plants, and the garden environment to facilitate holistic health and wellbeing outcomes – physical, mental, psychological and social – for the clients they work with. 

“I got involved in horticultural therapy around seven years ago when I was working with trauma-affected children as a garden educator. I realised pretty quickly that those kids need more than knowing how to grow carrots.

“I began incorporating mindfulness into garden classes with very positive results. The rest flowed on from there.

“My workdays are never average! I was recruited by the Botanic Gardens and State Herbarium to design and deliver a new horticultural therapy program from the ground up, so my days are full and varied. 

“They can involve activities such as meeting with our program partners and collaborators, liaising with Botanic Gardens horticultural staff, devising and costing program activities, public speaking about the program, making design and infrastructure recommendations, sourcing session material from Adelaide Botanic Garden, writing up session notes, collecting and collating program data and, of course, most importantly, working with the client cohorts that the horticultural therapy program has been designed for.

“Any activity that strengthens people’s connection with nature is an activity worth undertaking. Whether that’s nature journalling, herbal tea making, pruning, planting, sowing seeds, creating a potted garden, making a nature mandala, building a community garden, or simply sitting and mindfully observing the natural world, will depend largely on the individual, and their specific needs and wellbeing goals.

“The beauty of horticultural therapy is that it’s highly accessible, inclusive and diverse. There’s something for everyone, irrespective of age, background, and ability. 

“The Botanic Gardens of South Australia offer a range of fun and engaging activities throughout the year that nurture connection with nature. Check out the ‘what’s on’ section of the website for more information. 

“It’s also worth following the Botanic Gardens on socials to stay abreast of therapeutic horticulture activities available to the public in the near future.” 

Liv King, behind the Adelaide nature-supported counselling practice, Walking the Path

“It just made sense to me to put the two together [nature and counselling] – the opportunity to both get outside, get some Vitamin D, and just benefit from the beautiful landscapes that we live in, instead of being separated from them. We live these sedentary lives, and we spend so much time inside. 

“[Such counselling] can be a hard sell at times because it is different. There are two other practitioners that I know of who are doing outdoor therapy/counselling in Adelaide. I’m the one that probably travels around to different locations and more works with the landscape itself, I suppose, in the therapy sessions.

“I say to the client, ‘What landscape is speaking to you at the moment? Are you looking for something cultivated like the Botanic Garden [in Park 11] or the Himeji Garden [in Park 18]? Or are you looking for something a bit raw, bushy, and wild – or more of a calming landscape, like an ocean or lake?

“It’s well-documented that different landscapes have different effects on the psyche. Obviously, the Himeji Garden speaks for itself in terms of calming and mindfulness, but the bushy [part of Park 23 in the Western Park Lands] also talks about being able to get away. It’s more perhaps for someone who’s looking to disconnect a bit from the city.

“I generally start every session pretty much with a walk. I find that the walking supports us to just move in alignment with the first part of the session, which can sometimes be a bit of a gush – a lot of energy, a lot to express.

“When I feel that we are drawing to a focus for the session, or a point or a particular concern that the client wants to work on, I’ll slow the walk down, then invite the client to sit somewhere that calls to them.

“What I love about outdoor sessions is the nature space seems to inform the session. One example of that is if there’s some animals present or a particular tree sometimes. I will invite a client to tell me what they observe, encouraging the client to project onto the landscape what they’ve seen, by naming it, categorising it, making value judgements about it.

“Once that happens, I’m able to reflect that projection back to the client. So, they can then reclaim it and whatever’s happening in their own internal landscape that’s projecting onto the external. That can be a really helpful tool for developing self-awareness.

“In the winter, there is a shift towards indoor sessions because you just can’t do it as much when it’s bucketing down with rain. But again, I do encourage people to get a rain jacket on and I’ve got a number of little spots where we can go and sit and watch the rain come down – like sitting at the little contemplative zen garden in Himeji Garden. There’s a little refuge there. It can be a nice place to be with the weather instead of hiding or tucking away from it, as an example.

“We all run for a building when it rains but we have these exquisite trees that block out the rain. Many people haven’t stood under a huge tree when it’s raining and been dry and even that can be a really potent experience.

“With a practitioner or without, I just encourage people to get out and explore the Park Lands. It’s so surprising – all the little rooms and nooks and the culture and the different parts. 

“I just think it’s that beautiful nexus of nature and convenience. All the research shows that one of the biggest barriers to time in nature is proximity. The Park Lands really address that.”