Woodlands Grove Recovery Campus Launches Horticulture Initiative to Support Nature-Based Recovery
In partnership with The Ohio State University Extension Office, Woodlands Grove Recovery Campus residents will use gardening as a hands-on lesson in recovery, mirroring the patience, care, and resilience it takes to grow and heal.
VAN WERT, OH / ACCESS Newswire / July 1, 2026 /Woodlands Grove Recovery Campus is developing a horticulture and gardening initiative in partnership with The Ohio State University Extension Office in Van Wert County, expanding the campus 's experiential recovery programming through hands-on outdoor engagement.
The initiative will introduce residents to nature-based activities across the campus, including:
Gardening and vegetable cultivation
Fruit tree restoration
Native Midwest wildflower meadow development
Planting, maintaining and harvesting gardens
Educational experiences tied to nutrition, sustainability and environmental stewardship
The program is designed to provide more than just outdoor activity. Through nurturing living things and working collaboratively outdoors, residents will have opportunities to build routine, practice responsibility, strengthen mindfulness and experience connection in a restorative natural setting.
"Gardening is something you learn by doing, " says Rachel Hoverman of The Ohio State University Extension Office. "No matter how hard you try, you still have setbacks, and you 're constantly reevaluating, learning and growing. In many ways, that mirrors recovery itself, it 's not always a smooth path, but growth happens with patience, care and consistency. "
The campus plans to incorporate vegetable gardens, fruit trees and native Midwest wildflower meadows with walking paths designed to create calming outdoor spaces for reflection and healing. Future programming may also include educational experiences focused on pollinators, birds, nutrition and sustainable food systems.
The initiative reflects growing research around the role environment, mindfulness and connection can play in behavioral health and recovery outcomes. By integrating outdoor engagement into treatment experiences, Woodlands Grove Recovery Campus aims to provide residents with both clinical support and meaningful opportunities for reflection, responsibility and personal growth.
About Woodlands Grove Recovery Campus
Woodlands Grove Recovery Campus is a behavioral health and addiction recovery center located on a 44-acre wooded campus in Van Wert, Ohio. The organization provides medically supervised detox, residential treatment, partial hospitalization programming, medication-assisted treatment, dual diagnosis care and trauma-informed therapy in a setting intentionally designed to promote calm, connection and whole-person healing.
For more information, please visit: https://woodlandsrehab.org
Media Contacts:
Green Flag Digital for Woodlands Grove Recovery Campus
Joe Robison, joe@greenflagdigital.com
SOURCE:Woodlands Grove Recovery Campus
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