Author: Lorin Fawns
Planning Unit: Mason County CES
Major Program: Substance Use & Mental Health
Plan of Work: Horticulture
Outcome: Initial Outcome
Mason County Recovery Garden Success Story 2024 Growing Season
Title: Comprehend Recovery Center: Growing Plants and Expanding Horizons
Byline: Macy Fawns, Mason County Horticulture Agent
Kentucky faces significant challenges with substance use disorders, and recovery centers are a critical first line of support. Comprehend Recovery Center is one of 500 such facilities in the state. Comprehend offers intensive outpatient programming (IOP) for adults in Mason County. Over the course of the year, approximately 70 individuals come through the recovery program and are exposed to Extension Programming. The Mason Co. Nutrition Educator teaches a 7-week nutrition class to new IOP cohorts and the Horticulture Agent facilitates monthly gardening classes year-round, including topics such as: soil sampling, insect identification, mushroom growing country hams, tree grafting, vegetable production and hydroponics.
On September 21, 2024, Comprehend hosted a two-hour “Ripple Effects Mapping” (REM) evaluation of the gardening and nutrition education programming provided by Extension. Seven people participated in the evaluation, including current clients, alumni of the program, administration and Extension Educators. REM is an evaluation method that engages stakeholders to visually map the chain of effect resulting from a program. The facilitators of this REM session developed initial themes from their discussion that was reviewed by participants during the REM session. From the REM session and subsequent examination of data, Key Themes of the impact of the Recovery Garden were identified by participants, which are summarized below.
Gardening and Nutrition Education at Comprehend….
“There's more laughter when we work together in the garden. It's fun and it connects us. When we garden it brings us together, unlike the isolation we feel with addiction. I've been to a different recovery center and it really felt different. Here we have our garden where we hang out and play games and it feels like having a home. This allows you to think of recovery in a positive way and not just reflect negatively, but look forward. Some of us even come back to check on the garden after we graduate.”
Gardening rewards delayed gratification, allowing clients to experience the sense of accomplishment that comes from putting in a great deal of effort and getting to see the results. Taking shared ownership of the garden also instills pride and enhances self-esteem by providing a tangible way to contribute.
“From seed to produce, we learn the whole process. And it is the result of the work of the hand, which brings meaning”
At the end of the season, 59.9 pounds of produce were harvested, yielding 17.06 servings of fresh fruits and vegetables, according to USDA calculations. This is $227.62 value in fresh produce made available to participants. Medical research indicates that proper nutrition, such as increasing intake of garden fruits and vegetables, can support physical healing of damage caused by substance use and stabilize emotional states, thereby decreasing the risk of recurrence. After harvest, participants had the opportunity to consume the produce.
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