In this workshop, you'll learn how to cite relevant research to strengthen your garden and nature program proposals, whether you’re seeking employment, approval for a new program, or fundraising for a garden.

• 60 minutes of recorded video 
• a 14-page Google workbook & guide
• any future content that I add to this workshop

I share my screen as I demonstrate by example how you can confidently search in Google Scholar for recent rigorous research that’s relevant to your participant group and to the garden and nature intervention you (wish to) facilitate. 

The workbook and guide has space to record your searches, and provides shortcuts for searching common participant groups, interventions and outcomes.

How might you use the research you find? 

In a poll at the 2023 Canadian Horticultural Therapy Association's online conference, attendees said they would like to:

• fundraise for a garden or greenspace (50% of attendees)
• fundraise for a program (65%)
• validate your program to your manager, colleague or clients (75%)
• find the most effective way to deliver your program (75%)

After my workshop, 52% of conference attendees polled were "way more confident and excited about the possibilities", and an additional 33% were "a lot more confident". That's a total of 85% of attendees feeling much more confident about searching for research on Google Scholar. Wow! 

For 23 years, Shelagh developed and led therapeutic garden programs for care home residents, while supervising and mentoring many students and volunteers. She taught people with mental health challenges how to grow their own food, collaborated on the design of restorative and enabling gardens, and gave 100+ live multi-media presentations and workshops to healthcare, community, and professional organizations. 

Vancouver, Canada is her local nature playground, and she loves to travel on the back roads of British Columbia with her husband and their tiny Trillium trailer.