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Wellbeing

Horticultural therapist Green Job

Horticultural therapists use gardening to improve their clients' health and wellbeing, and to learn new skills.

Annual Salary

£18,000 to £27,000

Average UK salary in 2023 was £34,963
(source Office for National Statistics)

Working hours

30 to 37 variable

You could work: evenings / weekends; managing your own hours

4%
Future employment

There will be 4% more Horticultural therapist jobs in 2027.

Day to day tasks

As a horticultural therapist, you could:

  • develop clients' practical and social skills, confidence and self-esteem
  • provide outdoor activities to restore strength and mobility after injury or illness
  • support clients to take horticultural qualifications or to move into work
  • work closely with other professionals like psychologists and social workers
  • manage staff and volunteers
  • draw up proposals for projects and raise funds

Working environment

You could work in a garden, on a country estate or in a therapy clinic.

Your working environment may be outdoors in all weathers and physically demanding.

You can get into this job through:

  • a university course
  • a college course
  • an apprenticeship
  • specialist courses run by private training organisations
University

You could do a foundation degree, higher national diploma or degree course, then take further training in social and therapeutic horticulture.

Subjects include:

  • horticulture
  • health and wellbeing
  • occupational therapy
  • mental health or learning disability nursing

Some universities offer horticulture courses that include modules on social and therapeutic horticulture.

Entry requirements

You'll usually need:

  • 1 or 2 A levels, or equivalent, for a foundation degree or higher national diploma
  • 2 to 3 A levels, or equivalent, for a degree
For more information
  • equivalent entry requirements|https://www.gov.uk/what-different-qualification-levels-mean/list-of-qualification-levels
  • student finance for fees and living costs|https://www.gov.uk/student-finance
  • university courses and entry requirements|https://www.ucas.com/
College

You could take a college course to get some of the skills needed for this job, which may help you when looking for work.

Courses include:

  • horticulture
  • garden design
  • practical horticulture skills

Apprenticeship

You may be able to work towards this role by doing an apprenticeship before taking further training in therapeutic horticulture.

Apprenticeships include:

  • Horticulture Level 2 Intermediate Apprenticeship
  • Horticulture Supervisor Level 3 Advanced Apprenticeship
  • Community Health and Wellbeing Worker Level 3 Advanced Apprenticeship

Entry requirements

To get onto an apprenticeship, you'll find it useful to have:

  • some GCSEs, usually including English and maths, or equivalent, for an intermediate apprenticeship
  • 5 GCSEs at grades 9 to 4 (A* to C), or equivalent, including English and maths, for an advanced apprenticeship
For more information
  • equivalent entry requirements|https://www.gov.uk/what-different-qualification-levels-mean/list-of-qualification-levels
  • guide to apprenticeships|https://www.gov.uk/apprenticeships-guide
Volunteering and work experience

It can be really useful to get experience by volunteering as a support worker on a horticulture project. You'll get a better understanding of the role, and make contacts who could help when looking for work.

Thrive offer volunteering opportunities, if you live within travelling distance of their gardens in Battersea (South London), Birmingham or Reading. They also have details of other horticulture projects around the UK.

You can find other local volunteering schemes from Do IT and NCVO.

Other routes

You can do training courses with Thrive, a national charity working in horticultural therapy. Thrive offer courses from introductory level to more advanced, like the Diploma in Social and Therapeutic Horticulture.

Requirements and restrictions

You'll need to:

More information

Career tips

You may have an advantage if you are moving into this career from another area of horticulture or gardening, or a job such as social care, occupational therapy, mental health nursing, counselling or teaching.

Further information

You can find out more about becoming a horticultural therapist from Thrive and the Chartered Institute of Horticulture.

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You could use horticultural therapy as part of a wider role, like occupational therapy. With experience and further study, you could move into a supervisory role, or research.

You could become self-employed or teach and supervise trainees in therapeutic horticulture methods.

How does this job help to address the impacts of climate change and protect wildlife and nature in the West of England?

Horticultural Therapists support communities and individuals to engage with nature to support their health and wellbeing. This is one of several nature-based approaches to health and care that form part of the Vision for Nature and Health Plan in the West of England over the coming years.

There are several different routes you can take to get into working as a horticultural therapist which you can explore further in the 'Routes into this job' section above. 

Click here for an explanation of the different course and apprenticeship levels.


Examples of post-16 courses you could study at local schools or colleges

  • Level 2 T-level Transition Horticuture at Bridgewater and Taunton College
  • T Level in Agriculture, Land Management and Production at Bridgewater and Taunton College
  • T Level in Health and Science (from 2024)
  • Level 3 Sustainable Futures at South Gloucestershire and Stroud College (SGS)

Click here to find a local provider

Apprenticeships you may be able to take with local employers

  • Level 2 Horticulture or landscape construction operative
  • Level 3 Landscape or horticulture supervisor
  • Level 6 Occupational Therapist (degree)

Click here to search for a local apprenticeship

Examples of post-18 courses you could study at local universities

Click here to search for other university courses


Local employers 

You may work as a horticultural therapist for a local authority, NHS Trust or charity. 

For local employment opportunities see the 'Live job vacancies by region' section above.

Skills required and how your skills match up

What skills are required?

You'll need:

  • knowledge of psychology
  • counselling skills including active listening and a non-judgemental approach
  • excellent verbal communication skills
  • sensitivity and understanding
  • knowledge of teaching and the ability to design courses
  • the ability to work well with others
  • leadership skills
  • the ability to work well with your hands
  • to be able to use a computer and the main software packages competently
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