Why Planting a Garden Can Enhance Addiction Recovery

By Meghan Vivo

When you’re battling a drug or alcohol addiction, it’s worth being open to anything that can sustain and enhance your recovery. Some drug rehab programs introduce clients to yoga, meditation, sober recreation, adventure sports and other activities to help them feel good without drugs or alcohol.

An innovative wilderness rehab program in North Carolina is adding something new to this list: therapeutic gardening for addiction recovery.

Between wilderness therapy expeditions, therapy sessions, adventure trips and other therapeutic activities, Four Circles clients tend to a variety of crops, including tomatoes, basil, radishes, spinach, potatoes, cucumbers, oregano and cilantro. But the recovery garden is much more than a place to grow fruits, vegetables and herbs.

“The garden is a place for clients to get excited about life,” said Elizabeth Mills, the logistical coordinator at Four Circles and the head of the garden project. “Caring for something and watching it flourish can be tremendously nurturing and confidence-building. It is also a real-life example of how taking care of something else is the best way to take care of yourself.”

A Metaphor for Life

Four Circles utilizes a highly effective substance abuse treatment model that blends wilderness therapy with traditional addiction counseling at base. During their time at base, clients attend 12-Step meetings, participate in counseling, and develop aftercare and relapse prevention plans, as well as other therapeutic activities. They also have the opportunity to learn about horticulture and get hands-on experience in the drug rehabilitation program’s four vegetable and herb gardens.

“Gardening is inherently therapeutic and rich in metaphor,” said Mills, who spent summers growing up picking vegetables to sell at farmer’s markets with her parents. “In many instances, the way the crops are doing reflects how clients are doing themselves. The garden opens up frequent opportunities to draw metaphors that teach lessons about everyday life.”

For example, when a plot of newly planted seeds failed to grow, the clients examined their work and realized they had packed the seeds too firmly in the soil. Similarly, when clients put too much pressure on themselves or are under extreme stress, their growth is stifled.

“An important metaphor we make in the garden is, ‘If you choose to live a sober life, you’re going to have to get down in the dirt, pull up your own personal weeds and let your positive character traits grow,’” said Mills.

Healthy Food, Healthy Lifestyle

A physical activity that gets people outdoors, gardening is both a life skill and a hobby many people enjoy. A garden can spring up anywhere – in the backyard, in pots on a balcony or in a window planter – and can be a source of physical, emotional and spiritual fulfillment.

The home-grown produce at Four Circles adds variety to the nutritious meals clients enjoy. Observing the process of growing food from seed to table helps clients connect to where their food comes from. They are also surprised to discover how much better food tastes when they grow it themselves, which encourages them to incorporate fresh foods into their diet as part of a healthy lifestyle.

“The gardening project has been an enriching experience for our clients,” said Mills. “They eat the produce as fast as we can grow it – and that’s the ultimate compliment for a gardener.”

Skills that Support Addiction Recovery

In addition to cultivating crops, young adults at Four Circles are cultivating new skills. As the group experiments with sowing different seeds, they’re encouraged to step outside their comfort zone, take chances and learn from their mistakes. Also, for many, it is a chance to engage in pro-social behaviors with the opportunity to contribute to the well-being of their group, not just themselves. If a client gets tough news from home or just needs to get away for awhile, the garden is a meditative place to escape and be with nature.

As any horticulturist knows, it takes a lot of work to maintain a garden. Gardening requires patience and delayed gratification while growers wait for their seedlings to emerge. Clients discover the value of hard work as well as the benefits of teamwork, tilling the soil and harvesting crops alongside their peers to lighten the load.

Environmental responsibility and self-sufficiency are other important themes, as clients grow their own food and learn how to compost, leaving minimal impact on the world around them. When a new seedling pops out of the ground, the entire group feels a sense of pride and accomplishment.

Plant a Garden, Recovery Blooms

Four Circles Recovery Center leaves no stone unturned in the garden of recovery. The wilderness rehab program addresses the impact of addiction in every area of young people’s lives. Along with state-of-the-art clinical care, meditation, sweat lodges, adventure trips and other therapeutic activities, the gardening project is one more way to introduce young people to the many blessings of life in recovery.