Horticultural therapy in Ireland: a roadmap to professionalisation

Despite practitioners working within health and social care settings, horticultural therapy has not reached statutory regulation as a profession, either nationally or internationally.
This paper examines Ireland’s process to position horticultural therapy as a regulated profession under the Health and Social Care Professionals Act 2005. Within this analysis, a roadmap for the professionalisation of horticultural therapy in Ireland is proposed; however, the profession must first unite to ensure that this strategy proves successful.
Findings contribute to ongoing efforts for horticultural therapy’s professional advancement in Ireland.
This analysis equips international colleagues to consider a strategy for professionalisation within their legislative steps towards statutory regulation.

XXXI International Horticultural Congress (IHC2022): International Symposium on Urban Horticulture for Sustainable Food Security (UrbanFood2022)

N.J. Batsch, O.P.E. Doyle, O. Kelly, C. Elliott-Kingston

social and therapeutic horticulture, nature-assisted therapy, professional registration, voluntary professional body, CORU

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2022.1356.45