Stress is an everyday factor of urban life. Taking a walk in an urban park helps us to feel a connection to nature that often goes unfulfilled in city life. Having a place of beauty available can provide settings for meditation, contemplation, and relation, creating havens form stress. Exposure to forests and trees boosts the immune system, lowers blood pressure, increases the ability to focus and improves sleep cycles. Active activity, such as gardening, can be physically regenerative and many individuals who utilize gardening as therapy are seeking careers in horticulture to continue to experience these therapeutic benefits.

• What role do green spaces play in our mental health and wellbeing?
• How can we design spaces that help us feel better both mentally and physically?
• What initiatives are already happening in our communities?
• How can green spaces help us transform our daily ives?
• What is horticulture therapy and how can we add therapy programs to our spaces to become more inclusive organizations?

SPEAKERS

• Naomi A. Sachs PhD, MLA, EDAC, Therapeutic Landscapes Network, University of Maryland
• Gwenn Fried, Therapeutic Horticultural Specialist, Manager, Horticulture Therapy Services Department, New York
• Amos Clifford MA, Association of Nature and Forest Therapy Guides and Programs

NETWORKING ACTIVITY led by Regina Ginyard, Co-founder, Black Urban Growers

AFTER SESSION: Forest Bathing, Association of Nature and Forest Therapy