Author: elisgardenofhealing
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community healing in eli’s garden
Transforming vacant lots into urban greenspace has so many benefits for the neighboring community. “To change the community, we have to change the composition of the soil.” – Rob Finley, South Central LA gardener. Watch this inspiring 10 minute TEDtalk (with over 4.2M views!) to hear more about how Rob has embraced gardening to bring…
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gun violence
Yale doctoral student Kathleen O’Neill determined the number of people presenting at Emergency Departments at Yale New Haven, Hartford, Bridgeport and St. Francis hospitals for violence-related trauma increased by 55 percent between Jan. 1, 2018 and Jan.1, 2021 compared with the previous three years, according to her thesis “Improving Care for Survivors of Gun Violence,”…
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just like healing, violence impacts us in many ways
Eli’s Garden of Healing was formed from the cowardly act of violence Elijah Gomez experienced on May 9, 2022 when he was ambushed and gunned down while walking home from high school on the Farmington Canal Trail less than a week after he turned 15 years old. While the garden is in memory of Eli,…
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sensory gardens
There are many aspects of a garden which can excite or calm the senses. Colors and smells are some of the ones we think about right away. One of the benefits of sensory gardens is that they are designed with the purpose of encouraging a visitor to be exposed to a range of experiences which…
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encouraging nature-centric healing for victims of violence
Did you know that spending time in nature is proven to reduce stress and help clear the mind? “In the 19th century, Dr. Benjamin Rush, a signer of the Declaration of Independence and recognized as the “Father of American Psychiatry,” was first to document the positive effect working in the garden had on individuals with…