In 2021, 17,466 Kentuckians age 12 and older were admitted to drug and alcohol substance use centers, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). According to the 2023 Extension Community Assessment, Clay County residents identified support for substance use addiction prevention/recovery as one of the top 15 issues within the county. 

Clay County Nutrition Education Program Assistant, Connie Downey and Extension ANR Agent, Ashley Adkins, collaborated with Freedom House Recovery Center from late summer to early fall, to teach both gardening skills and nutrition education. The gardening, meal planning, and cooking skills learned will be useful to participants, both in the short term and after they leave the recovery center. 

Therapeutic horticulture is defined as a practice that uses living plants and gardening to improve people’s spiritual, mental, and physical health, according to the American Horticulture Therapy Association. Four recovery center residents participated in the garden. The garden consisted of three types of vegetables grown in raised beds.  The produce from the garden was utilized primarily for educational purposes but also as an opportunity for residents to grow their own food for the first time and learn recipes for healthier foods.  

Participants tended the garden by planting, watering, weeding, and harvesting vegetables. In addition, some residents were assigned duties and responsibilities weekly as they worked together to maintain production. The garden was a sense of responsibility and ownership of a project that provided exercise, organization, teamwork, and mental stress relief. After one garden was started there were some extra plants and members found another location to expand the raised bed garden to include more. This responsibility aided in the participants’ substance-use recovery because gardening promotes connection with other participants, fostering social inclusion and community belonging—which are essential to substance-use recovery. All participants indicated that participating in gardening and nutrition education taught them self-care strategies to improve their recovery. Furthermore, all participants intend to “seek out positive social relationships and invest more deeply in community” because of their participation in this collaborative Extension program. 

In addition to growing produce, the agent provided additional opportunities for people in substance use recovery to explore ways to build self-efficacy through participating in goal setting a goal and seeing it through, teamwork, and improvement of physical and mental health.  Furthermore, several participants commented that they enjoyed gardening because they “got to see things grow” and “learned new skills”.

At the end of the season, 10.4 pounds of produce were harvested, a value of $44.82 and yielding 2.5 servings of fresh fruits and vegetables, according to USDA calculations. 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 and learned about the important role of food in recovery through classes led by the NEP Assistant. Over the few months August through October 11 residents completed the Healthy Choices for your Recovering Body Curriculum.