The Ipsen Conservatory at the Rosecrance Griffin Williamson Campus was conceived and designed to provide a space for horticultural therapy on a year-round basis. This serene environment also offers a welcoming place for family and group counseling, journaling and individual counseling.

Horticultural Therapy

Horticultural therapy is part of the Rosecrance Experiential Therapies program. The goal is to create an awareness and holistic understanding of personal health. Awareness is created through first-hand experiences in art, music, recreation and horticulture. Clients learn to break down barriers, increase self-esteem, identify personal goals, work toward stabilization and establish healthy relationships.

The conservatory curriculum takes recovery values and abstract beliefs and incorporates them into biology, science and nature. Through the use of natural world metaphors, teens in treatment learn to look at recovery in new ways. They learn to better understand themselves and how they relate to the circle of life.

The Conservatory Curriculum

Metaphorical teaching at Rosecrance offers a look at the world around us and highlights connections to nature. It generates discussion about addiction and recovery and enhances self-understanding.

Digging for worms, using dirt to relate to our surroundings and learning how to mix and care for dirt are activities that help us understand the simplest things in life need care.

• Learning how to plant seeds offers us a lesson in how those steps relate to planting the seeds of recovery in our own lives.
• Discussing bulbs and flowers encourages us to think about how they represent us and others in our lives. What are their roots? What are ours?
• The process of dividing and transplanting generates discussion about what types of people we are and how we think others see us. How do we give ourselves away by volunteering or helping others?
• Identifying plants, leaves and trees enables us to talk about our own identities.
• Learning about annuals and perennials enables us to think about how we are all different and to journal our thoughts about acceptance.

The Ipsen Conservatory is made possible by the generosity of Susan J. Ipsen and other very good friends to Rosecrance.