In my last blog post I announced I will be sharing articles from my zine, ‘Grow!’, in this format. The idea being to share the information as far as possible.
So here is the first article in the ‘Under the Spotlight- Gardening’ section from the Autumn, 2024 edition.
Innerbloom Gardening Therapy:
Kim has had a diverse working background and has qualifications in both counselling and horticulture; the perfect combination to transform from a gardener to a Therapeutic Horticulture practitioner.
Her business, Innerbloom Gardening Therapy, offers companionship gardening, workshops, educational sessions for schools and kindergartens, and she is running the ‘Grow Community’ program at the Camperdown Community Garden.
Therapeutic Horticulture is the practice of utilising plants and garden based activities to enhance health and wellbeing for people from all walks of life.
Therapeutic Horticulture can help people in a variety of ways: increasing confidence, stress and anxiety reduction, mental health and wellbeing support, and increasing overall health to name a few.
Asked what her inspiration is Kim replied she is “constantly inspired by nature”. Kim finds trees particularly inspiring and used the Sequoias planted in the Otway Ranges as an example. “Trees offer protection and nurturing” she said.
Her business journey has taught her to focus on the bigger plan by “not sweating the small stuff” and it’s given her greater knowledge of the business world, including having confidence in networking and building relationships with other people in the field.
Her advice for anyone wanting to start a small business is to have a passion for what you are doing.
The Japanese philosophy of ‘Ikigai’ which roughly translates as ‘a reason to live’ is something she believes can be applied to one’s work. Simply put, “love what you do”.
Innerbloom Gardening Therapy is putting the emerging field of Therapeutic Horticulture on the map in South West Victoria. We hope it grows and grows!
Kim can be contacted on:
Info@innerbloom.com.au or 0409 401 529
Also FB and instagram.
Til next time!
The Flowerpot Pen 