Seoul's Seongdong-gu district is launching a mobile garden therapy program for senior residents, using plants and garden activities to promote emotional well-being and healthy daily routines among older adults.
The program runs from Aug. 21 through Oct. 30, with staff visiting six senior welfare centers in the neighborhoods of Wangsimni-Doseon-dong, Wangsimni 2-dong, Sageun-dong, Seongsui 1-ga 2-dong, Songjeong-dong and Yongdap-dong. A total of 115 Seongdong-gu residents aged 60 and older are eligible to participate, with eight sessions held at each center for a combined 48 sessions over the program's run.
Themed "A Warm Greeting from Nature," the program centers on garden therapy activities using plants as a medium to stimulate participants' sensory, emotional and cognitive functions and bring renewed energy to their daily lives. It is designed particularly to help seniors reflect on their own lives and connect naturally with fellow participants through hands-on engagement with plants and the natural world.
Participants will take part in a range of seasonal, nature-based garden therapy activities: making scented soap, creating a personal miniature garden, dyeing scarves with flowers, crafting garlands from seasonal materials and making self-portrait artwork from fallen leaves.
Through the program, Seongdong-gu aims to support seniors' emotional stability and quality of life while consistently expanding garden-based welfare services to give older residents more opportunities to connect with nature in their everyday surroundings.
"A garden offers rest simply by being looked at, but the process of touching and tending to plants adds new joy and vitality to daily life," district mayor Yoo Bo-hwa said. "We will consistently expand a variety of garden-based welfare services so that seniors can enjoy nature close to home and take good care of both their physical and mental health."
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