Our vision is to be a leading representative organisation for Australian Therapeutic Horticulture.
Our mission is to foster and support evidence-based, ethical and person-centred therapeutic horticulture in Australia and develop a robust, professional and ethical industry that is widely recognised, valued and utilised.
Leigh lives and works in Sydney where she designs restorative gardens for private clients, together with consulting for horticultural therapy services in aged care, multi-residential dwellings and across the community. Leigh and her psychologist husband established Wired for Nature in 2018 to complement traditional psychological counselling strategies with horticultural therapy practices and other nature engagement activities.
Tanya is a social worker and horticultural therapist and is the founder of “My Garden Space” a social and therapeutic gardening service based in Melbourne, Australia.
Tara is an internationally award-winning Landscape Architect who specialises in the design of healing and therapeutic landscapes for the healthcare, aged care, disability and education sectors across Australia. Tara is a strong believer that physical environments can be designed to reduce stress, improve health and to support people’s wellbeing.
Residing in Adelaide, SA, Tara is the Director of DesignWELL Landscape Architects, a landscape architecture firm that specialises in therapeutic landscapes. She has a passion for enabling people to connect with nature through therapeutic horticulture and is a founding member of THA. Prior to THA forming, Tara was President of Horticultural Therapy S.A and has been strongly active in bringing together the therapeutic horticulture community in South Australia. Tara understands the importance of the physical environment in the lives of older Australians and is the S.A. Environmental Design Consultant for Dementia Training Australia. A government funded organisation who educates aged care providers on enabling and supportive care of people living with dementia. Tara is also the author of ‘Gardens that Care: Planning Outdoor Environments for People with Dementia’ and is well know around the aged care conference circuits as a speaker on dementia enabling landscapes.
Robyn is a passionate horticulturist of over thirty years who has lived and worked with plants and people across northern Australia. Robyn teaches horticulture at Charles Darwin University in Darwin and across the Northern Territory, often into remote communities for First Nations people.
Robyn starting gardening from a very early age, food security was a driving force behind vegetable gardening experiences when growing up on a sheep station where food security was vital to survival and started horticultural record keeping through “Brownies of the Air” as part of remote learning through the School of The Air education system.
With qualifications in Sustainable Landscape Design and Adult Education, Robyn has recognised when adult learners were engaged with nature are more relaxed and open to learning new skills, and experience increased health and wellbeing. Robyn is principally interested in promoting Therapeutic Horticulture qualifications through a nationally accredited training package to lead into Therapeutic Horticulture as a recognized and valued profession in Australia.
Robyn is a tropical horticulturist, naturalist, horticultural consultant with a passion and commitment to biophilia and nature-based learning. Robyn is constantly making the most of opportunities, who loves camping and adventuring with her husband in remote Australia.
Patrick is a horticulturalist living and working on Wirundjeri Woiwurring land. He currently works as the Coordinator of Therapeutic Horticulture at Kevin Heinze GROW, a non-profit disability service provider working towards a vision of health and wellbeing through connection to nature and community. Patrick is passionate about the wellbeing and therapeutic benefits of gardening and nature for disabled people and the right of all people to have access to those benefits, and also has lived experience as a proud deaf and neurodivergent person.
With qualifications in garden design, horticulture and ecotherapy, Kate brings extensive knowledge to the therapeutic landscapes space. To those who are learning or keen to acquire more advanced skills, she frequently offers eco-therapy and design workshops, and often guest lectures at University of Melbourne and various garden clubs.
She is highly experienced in landscape construction, having worked in a variety of locations including residential sites and public spaces (hospitals, schools, community projects etc). She is passionate and professional, bringing a high level of care and love to every project from her experience working with people of varying abilities and NDIS participants
Netherlands-born Kate is the founder and director of Living Senses Group, a garden design, landscaping and ecotherapy business based in the leafy outer-eastern suburbs of Melbourne. With her team of designers and landscapers, Kate specialises in designing and creating landscapes with therapeutic appeal, assisting people in joyfully reconnecting with nature.
We welcome our new 2024-2025 committee member, Kate Coenen
The key benefit of THA membership is the importance of being part of a national body that validates, supports and promotes therapeutic horticulture as a field and the work of its members, thereby raising its profile and significance.
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THA acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the land where we work and live. We pay our respects to Elders past, present and emerging. We celebrate the stories, culture and traditions of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Elders of all communities who also work and live on this land.