This Portland program proves gardening is good therapy
Portland’s Recuperative Care Program Turns Empty Lot into Healing Garden
In an initiative that blends nature and therapy, the Recuperative Care Program (RCP) at 934 Congress Street in Portland has transformed part of an abandoned parking area into a living classroom. The garden, planted in June of this year, now offers patients a place to grow flowers, vegetables, and a sense of community.
The idea for the garden emerged from a routine art class taught by Carolyn Schnell, a licensed clinical social worker at RCP. During the session, many students recalled gardening memories from earlier in their lives and expressed frustration that they could no longer tend a garden because of housing, disability, or illness. Schnell said, “I felt like it would be a healing process for a lot of patients.” Her observation led her to contact Cultivating Well-Being, a horticultural‑therapy organization that provides guided gardening programs in a range of settings.
Laura Simonds‑Rumpf of Cultivating Well‑Being joined Schnell to launch the project. “A lot of patients have ongoing medical needs coming from hospitalization at Maine Health, treatment at Preble Street, or other places,” Schnell noted. The patient pool at RCP includes individuals recovering from physical injuries, disease, blood infections, substance abuse, and mental illness. The garden gives them a tangible activity that promotes movement, focus, and a sense of accomplishment.
In the first months of the program, patients have taken turns planting seedlings, pruning, and harvesting. “During the classes, the clients would sometimes disagree about what to plant and how the tasks should be done, and working that out was helpful in their treatments,” Schnell said. A pair of women, for instance, bonded over the garden and went out together to water the plants between formal sessions. The shared task of tending the garden has created a new social outlet for patients who may otherwise feel isolated.
Research supports the therapeutic benefits of horticulture. Simonds‑Rumpf explained, “When people are gardening they have less cortisol in their system.” Cortisol is the hormone associated with the body’s fight‑or‑flight response. “Also contact with plants has been known to lower the heart rate and is just calming,” she added. The program’s early success has spurred plans to begin the garden earlier in the next season, allowing for a longer period of participation and potentially greater yields.
The RCP garden is not the only horticultural‑therapy effort in the region. Cultivating Well‑Being runs programs in public libraries throughout Maine and offers home‑based sessions for those who cannot travel. The organization’s broader reach complements the local initiative, underscoring a growing recognition of gardening’s role in physical and mental health.
While the garden’s primary purpose is therapeutic, it also provides fresh produce. The patients have harvested onions, garlic, shallots, and potatoes in recent weeks. The program’s caretakers are now preparing for the fall clean‑up season, which includes digging up gladiolus bulbs after the first frost and cutting down dahlias to allow their bulbs to rest before winter.
As the garden matures, its residents and staff hope it will remain a permanent fixture of the RCP facility. “It’s more than a patch of soil,” Schnell reflected. “It’s a place where people can grow, learn, and connect again.”
