Hi

@ArraDreaming

I legitimately can't remember the last movie I watched. I even scrolled through my streaming services to find one and there aren't any from this year. I think I watched a Seth Rogan movie earlier this year with some friends... 🙃

You did indeed read that. I worked in the therapeutic hort space for like 5-ish years. It was largely with people with Autistim, Intellectual Disabilities and complex mental health challenges. I did do a tiny bit of work with older people too.

I did know that you were a gardener but didn't know it was for a retirement village. Does your current role involve any garden design stuff? I really like that as a goal for you. I don't know if you'd ever be keen on doing therapeutic hort from a First Nation's perspective but I think that would be incredible.

There's an association for therapeutic hort in Australia - Therapeutic Horticulture Australia (THA)

How long have you been doing gardens for, @ArraDreaming ?

I remember talking to some gardeners at a museum once about how they were trying to use more native plants in their spaces. I think they were connecting with the traditional owners of that land too.

A community garden is such a lovely way to do therapeutic hort! Creating opportunities for being in green spaces while also being around other people and being part of something is incredible. There's a lot of evidence to show that things like community gardens and community green spaces have a positive impact on people's mental health. Sounds like you're already doing some awesome work in the therapeutic hort space, Arra!

Thanks for sharing that about your sister and your siblings. I imagine it's not easy for you or them. I spent many years working with Autistic people like your sister. They were some of the loveliest people I've ever met ♥️

When I was doing some reading about therapeutic hort when I first learned about it, there was this theory I found really interesting: Psycho-evolutionary Theory (PET). It suggested that the world around us has evolved and changed (become more built up, industrialised and concrete) quicker than the human brain has. So, our brains feel more calm and less overwhelmed when we're in green, natural spaces; because our brains feel more at home and balanced. I thought it was a lovely way to understand why we feel good when we're outside and around plants.

I would say close to 10 years… I did an apprenticeship
@0ddsidian
I really enjoy it and being hands on is good for my mental health like you just said getting out in nature is so therapeutic I could not do a job that requires me to be inside
I spend a few hours a week on the computer at work and get restless doing that
I like my role in that I am mostly solo, I have a list I work through the list during the day sometimes I need help from others but I work through the list I say it’s done, I go home.
I used to work in a nursery and found that if I had jobs to do but got called to help customers it’s distrupted the flow and my autonomy to lead my day, because I could never start something and do it all the way through to finish without interruptions and in hindsight that was unsettling to my brain, it was a customer centred environment but I was too task driven to cope with both doing the tasks and having to answer questions for customers and the like. If I worked behind the register it wasnt too bad because that was my job for the day. Except the money part, I found the fact our nursery was old school pen and paper with calculator tricky lol

I hope that makes sense.
Whereas in this job I just do what I have to do and jobs are logged on an iPad for me to pick up and allocate to me or the team, its pretty straight forward

Heya @ArraDreaming !

How are you going? Things have been pretty busy on my side. What's been happening for you?

It's gonna be a warm one tomorrow!

Does the school have a performance or something that you need a costume making session @ArraDreaming ?

Argh... I hear you mate. Your crew aint getting any smaller!

The kids are having a bbq tonight. They're outside playing around.

You're working tomorrow, right?

Nice. I'm sure Mrs AD would've done the best job! @ArraDreaming . How cute that your son will be in a concert. Must make you so proud. I feel like I'm watch you grow up and all the kids grow up.... it's like a movie.

It's pretty sweet I reckon