Digging for Victory : Horticultural Therapy with Veterans for Post-Traumatic Growth.

Cover -- Half Title -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Dedication -- Table of Contents -- LIST OF FIGURES -- LIST OF TABLES -- LIST OF ACRONYMS -- ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS -- ABOUT THE AUTHOR -- A PERSONAL PERSPECTIVE Horticultural therapy and the military -- FOREWORD -- PREFACE -- INTRODUCTION -- CHAPTER ONE: Veterans with "invisible injuries" and their needs -- Definition and numbers of veterans in the UK -- Invisible injuries -- Historical background of mental health problems in the Armed Forces -- Symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder -- Vulnerability to mental health disorders -- Barriers to conventional mental health services -- Veterans' mental health needs -- Veterans' needs at a group level -- Veterans' needs at an individual level -- CHAPTER TWO: The trauma of killing -- Our innate resistance to killing -- Neurological and psychological mechanisms that overcome resistance to killing -- Consequences of overcoming resistance to killing -- Transition: from damage to development -- CHAPTER THREE: How horticultural therapy meets veterans' needs -- Benefits of passive exposure to nature -- Active benefits of horticultural therapy -- Physical domain -- Cognitive domain -- Emotional domain -- Social domain -- Spiritual domain -- The "ripple effect" on dependants -- Vocational horticultural therapy -- Evaluation of research evidence -- CHAPTER FOUR: Structuring the horticultural therapy programme to ensure safe practice -- Safety and stabilisation for veteran survivors of trauma -- The physiology of trauma and its relevance to safe practice -- Stages of recovery and implications for horticultural therapy groups -- Stages of recovery from trauma -- Stage one-safety and stabilisation -- Stage two-remembrance and mourning -- Stage three-reconnection -- The weekly timetable -- Ground rules -- Numbers -- Risk of veteran harm to self or others.

Therapeutic timescale, efficacy, and effectiveness -- CHAPTER FIVE: Staff support, supervision, and training -- Recognition, feedback, support, and supervision -- Communicating the military/civilian cultural divide -- Military protocol -- The power of language -- Military structure and the significance of boundaries -- "Need to know" -- Judgement and societal attitudes -- The "Drama Triangle" -- CHAPTER SIX Referral and assessment -- Referral -- Referral pathways -- Referral paperwork -- Assessment -- Assessment paperwork -- The assessment interview -- CHAPTER SEVEN Setting goals, defining outcomes -- Matching evaluation to needs, goals, and outcomes -- Standard instruments -- Client-centred evaluation -- Managing information using IT resources and equipment -- CHAPTER EIGHT The horticultural programme -- Developing horticultural skills and knowledge -- Planning a twelve-month horticultural programme -- Monthly plans -- Task analysis -- Characteristics of the "actor" -- Activity analysis -- CHAPTER NINE Site design features relating to veterans' needs -- Size -- Aspect -- Soil and beds -- Access -- Site facilities -- Equipment, tools, and adaptive designs -- Plants -- The aesthetics of good design -- 1. Genius loci -- 2. Harmony and contrast -- 3. Simplicity -- 4. Balance -- 5. Scale and proportion -- 6. Unity -- CHAPTER TEN Recalibration: future directions for post-traumatic growth -- Summary -- Future directions: developing HT as a profession -- Future directions: research -- Future directions: developing HT as a treatment model -- Recalibration for post-traumatic growth -- Mindfulness in nature -- Working with metaphor -- Recalibration within the community -- Conclusions -- APPENDIX I Resources -- Information and research on veterans with "invisible injuries" -- Veterans' support organisations.

Specialist horticultural therapy projects for veterans in the UK -- Safe practice -- Horticultural therapy: referral, assessment, and therapy resources -- The horticultural programme -- Site design features -- Sustainability -- Equipment, tools, and adaptive measures -- Plants -- Setting up a horticultural therapy project -- APPENDIX II Social and therapeutic horticulture: more research required? An additional commentary -- REFERENCES -- INDEX.

Horticultural Therapy is ideally suited to engage veterans alienated from traditional civilian healthcare routes who present with a range of complex and challenging healthcare needs. It presents, on the surface, as a deceptively simple and accessible activity. Carried out by trained professionals, it is an evidence-based, effective and cost-effective treatment. By targeting specific client-centred goals, it is able to integrate improved individual physical, emotional, cognitive and social outcomes with broader opportunities to transition successfully into civilian society through learning a valuable skill set and a meaningful occupation.This book provides a comprehensive introduction to the methods of Horticultural Therapy as applied to this unique client group. It describes the type of combat training and experiences veterans may have had, and sets out the common issues and pitfalls civilian therapists often face when working with the military. Looking to the future, it also identifies promising avenues in terms of how we may improve the treatment we offer to best serve the needs of these ex-service men and women who fight on our behalf.

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Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Michigan : ProQuest Ebook Central, 2024. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ProQuest Ebook Central affiliated libraries.