‘It clears my head’: how working with plants helps the women behind bars in Clarenville
The installation of a new greenhouse at the Newfoundland and Labrador Correctional Center for Women in Clarenville means that a horticultural therapy program that started there last year can enter its second season.
The program provides inmates with access to an outdoor area within the compound and classes on growing plants as part of therapy sessions designed to improve their mental well-being.
For inmate Irene Hutchings, the program was a welcome change from her daily life behind bars.
“It kept my mind busy and occupied…I would go outside to breathe fresh air and mingle with other inmates,” she said.
“[Before] I didn’t even know what a tree or a plant was [was], or something about growing. I don’t have a green thumb.”
Although the facility already had a greenhouse last year, that structure didn’t last through the winter. The new greenhouse, donated by Sun Valley Greenhouses, is about three times the size and offers ample space for both plants and therapy sessions.
A horticulture program at the NL Correctional Center for Women in Clarenville aims to improve the well-being of inmates.
They are managed by a non-profit organization Stella’s circlewhich supports women who have been involved in the criminal justice system, by providing community-based counseling and post-release support, as well as prison therapy – including horticultural therapy.
Program workers bill the therapy as a way to improve mental, physical, and social health.
“People have different ways of learning, different ways of receiving therapy. And horticulture is a really cool, unique way to offer that,” said Amy Sheppard, a social worker at Stella’s Circle.
“It’s really great for people with mental health issues, addiction issues.”
In the past, the county’s prisons, including the Clarenville facility, have come under repeated scrutiny over reports of inadequate mental health support, and staff shortages remain a problem across the county.
While there are “a lot of really good things happening” in Clarenville, Sheppard said, that doesn’t change the nature of being in a prison environment and what that means, including little opportunity to spend time away from home — but that’s what the program aims to improve .
Inmates who took part in it last year reported that they “bloomed up,” Sheppard said with a laugh, adding that it helped with their awareness and empathy.
“Women just talk about how peaceful they felt, how calm they felt, how it helped them tap into a piece of themselves that they didn’t know was there,” Sheppard said.
“They can nurture, they can grow, they see things happen. And how that really helps them feel better mentally and physically. It’s really a holistic kind of event.”
Therapy sessions include seed germination, plant care and food cultivation, but also include creative elements such as dried flower crafting.
Stella’s Circle staff are working to put together a teaching module in collaboration with the staff of Her Majesty’s Penitentiary in St. John’s, where the Phoenix Garden project is located.
Angela Barrett, assistant superintendent at the Clarenville facility, had worked there before moving to Clarenville and was already aware of the positive effects of horticultural therapy when Stella’s Circle approached her about the project.
She was immediately on board.
“I was very excited and flattered that they even offered to bring it here,” said Barrett.
She said the program has received positive feedback from Clarenville inmates who have noted the benefits to their mental health.
“Being cooped up in a single range facility day in, day out, 24 hours a day,” said Barrett. “Psychologically, it helps them, gives them a sense of purpose and that they’re actually accomplishing something.”
That’s why, she said, the staff also added chickens to the facility, which are cared for by the inmates, who feed the animals, talk to them and clean their pen.
“Everybody likes the chickens. The workers like the chickens, the inmates like the chickens, and it keeps them calm,” Barrett said.
“They enjoy getting out and interacting with the animals, and that really benefits them because when they go back in, they’re happy. And they don’t dwell on why they being here and the things they do.” have done.”
With the new greenhouse installed, she said, the goal is to expand the horticultural therapy program and add some standing boxes to grow vegetables over the next year.
For Hutchings, that means she can look forward to more opportunities to be outside — which she says helps her cope with her mental illness.
“It clears my head. I can think, I can learn… Because if you suffer from a serious mental illness, being cooped up doesn’t help much,” she said.
“I really liked that. I like to learn. Never too old to learn. I want to learn a lot here.”
Hutchings and her fellow inmates are now given the chance to choose a name for the garden project, just as inmates at Her Majesty’s Penitentiary did.
Once some vegetables grow in the greenhouse, the prison will hold a ceremony to officially launch the project.
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