There is no one route that can be taken to a career in social and therapeutic horticulture and currently no one course that will cover everyone's needs. The diversity of jobs in social and therapeutic horticulture means that there is different emphasis on different skills and qualifications for each project; and therefore there are a number of routes to gaining the skills required for any given post.
More about a career in social and therapeutic horticulture
Find out about becoming a horticultural therapist
Take the first step to a new career by taking part in training days at Thrive
Prior to the development of courses in social and therapeutic horticulture, experience of working in the field coupled with experience or a formal qualification in an allied subject may have been sufficient to secure a job or promotion. However, more and more employers are demanding multi-skilled professionals who have both experience and a formal qualification, ideally in social and therapeutic horticulture. This reflects the increasing need for practitioners who can not only develop relevant programmes for their clients, but also manage staff and volunteers, secure funding, draw up detailed proposals for developing the projects and promote their work to other professionals.
Some means of gaining experience in these often diverse fields are short term and relatively low cost, such as attending a short course and undertaking volunteer work at a social and therapeutic horticulture project. Others involve more commitment of time and money and may depend on availability of courses in the area.
For more information about working in social and therapeutic horticulture contact the Thrive Information Service on 0118 988 5688 or email the Information Service.