For Master Gardeners seeking professional horticulture related opportunities post graduation, Horticultural Therapy is a unique option. Much of the Master Gardener curriculum can provide a useful base of horticultural knowledge essential to Horticultural Therapy. To become a Registered Horticultural Therapist, it requires a degree plus specific horticulture, HT and psychology classes, special projects, and an internship. By definition, Horticultural Therapy is the practice of engaging people in plant or gardening activities to improve their bodies, minds, and spirits. HT techniques assist participants in regaining lost skills and learning new ones, and assists in developing memory, cognitive abilities, language skills, and socialization. HT techniques can also be used in physical rehabilitation and vocational training using therapeutic gardens as a medium.
     Suzanne Redell, Master Gardener and Registered Horticultural Therapist, began HT on a personal level after years as a high level Apple manager led her to find solace in the garden. Redell was inspired by her stress-busting experiences in the garden to begin taking HT classes at Merritt College, and Environmental Horticulture classes at Foothill College. For Redell, HT can be summed up as “working with special needs groups such as mental health, seniors, children, hospitals, to accomplish specific goals”. For example, for individuals with schizophrenia, Redell assigns tasks such as planting seeds and transplanting plants to help with focus. The approach for a stroke patient in need of re-strengthening muscles on the right side of the body would be much different, yet equally as specialized.
     Success with mental health patients, according to Redell, can be measured sometimes by “getting people outside”. Redell notes the power a simple jaunt in nature can have on an individual's mental well being: “once they experience that-listening to the birds, hawks flying above- they transform, especially those who were depressed… when they see others gardening and enjoying it, that's where the magic is”.
     Horticultural Therapy in mental health settings is not in-depth counseling, but rather, uses plant material as a medium for exploring human emotion and connecting garden activities to an individual's therapeutic goals. HT is a similar profession to Art and Music Therapy. The “intimacy” that surfaces from gardening can help individuals explain their feelings in a digestible way. Redell often uses images of a plant in various stages to help patients relate their emotions to natural cycles. For seniors, going outdoors and reflecting on memories in the garden can be healing.
     Redell concluded on her experience as a Horticultural Therapist: “It is just profound and it is just a privilege to work with people. We cannot make them well, but if we can improve their quality of life, that is what we are aiming for”.