Natural disasters take a toll on mental health, particularly for children. In Flagstaff, kids have had to deal with the upheaval of the pandemic and multiple fires and floods in recent years. But nature can also be the cure. KNAU’s Melissa Sevigny reports, a pilot program in “horticultural therapy” at Killip Elementary is tapping into the surprising power of plants.
Third, fourth, and fifth grade students crowd into a large, airy classroom at Killip School. Leafy houseplants line the walls and seeds incubate under warm golden lights. The teacher, Gayle Gratop, hefts a bag brimming with tiny green air plants. "I have something really special," she announces to the students, to squeals of delight. She passes an air plant to each student.
"Are plants living things?" Gratop asks.
"Yes, they are," several students speak up.
"And now are you going to be responsible for these air plants?"
"Yes!" one student shouts, while another chimes in, "We have to, because if we don't be responsible, they won't be able to grow anymore."
The kids get to take these plants home and care for them. It’s part of a larger lesson on resilience—how local plants like cactus and agave adapt to difficult environments.
Students at Killip know all about adapting to difficult circumstances. In the last five years they’ve experienced the disruption of the pandemic and a series of catastrophic wildfires, and floods. Gratop says kids were in the old school building as the water rose. "They lost their school, and they were displaced, so they had to leave their neighborhood… It was a really stressful time for everybody around here," she says.
Horticultural therapy is about learning how to recognize and deal with stress in healthy ways. It’s been around since World War Two, when it was used to care for war veterans. Gratop starts every lesson with what she calls a “wellbeing check.”
"They indicate how they’re feeling just simply by closing eyes and using their thumb," she explains. "If you’re feeling good you put a thumbs up, if you’re feeling not so great, or just so-so, you’re sideways, and if you’re not feeling good at all you put your thumb down."
There are a few thumbs down today; it’s been a long day of standardized testing. But registered horticultural therapist Pam Catlin says contact with plants raises everyone’s spirits. "There is an actual word called biophilia, and it is all about that innate connection between people and plants," she says. "It’s not something we go out and create, it’s already there."
For children, it’s a chance to build self-confidence, learn responsibility, and grow and eat their own food. A recent study in South Korea found horticultural therapy improved the emotional intelligence of elementary school kids—the ability to understand the feelings of themselves and others.
"You create a really safe environment," says Catlin. "When you create a green space, whether indoors or outdoors, it creates a sense of safety."
And by learning how to care for plants, the kids learn how to care for themselves. Water, nutrients, sunlight – all the essentials are the same.
For now, this is a pilot program, but Gratop hopes to expand it to other schools in Flagstaff. The activities will move outside once it’s warm enough to plant seeds in the school’s garden. In the meantime, the kids germinate red runner beans under a warm light in damp paper towels. "Mine are growing!" one student shouts. The kids celebrate the new pale sprouts splitting out of the skin.
Then the day ends with another wellbeing check. This time, every kid’s thumb goes straight up in the air.
