Why don’t we go into the garden? – Care Culture Map and Handbook

By Debbie Carroll

The Care Culture Map and Handbook shares the key findings from our evidence based research into what makes care home gardens more actively used. This package supports care homes, and the outdoor specialists who support them, to identify and address the factors that prevent resident’s regularly and meaningfully engaging with the care home gardens.

The visually engaging Care Culture Map makes the often complex process of culture change visually accessible and understandable by all staff within care settings allowing progress to be clearly seen, understood and readily communicated. This diagnostic tool enables care settings to locate where they are along a care culture spectrum in relation to Person-Centred and Relationship-Centred Care. It is deliberately paper based to encourage group discussion as to what is holding back greater use of the existing gardens and to agree a route forward.

The accompanying handbook explores several common themes to overcome, including: Health and Safety, Open door policies, and being weather ready. Where the support of a garden designer is required to make physical changes this helps care homes and garden designers to work effectively together to ensure the garden is actively used beyond any initial novelty period of a new space. We call this approach ‘Relationship-centred Design’.

Working with the Map tool will often identify practices that are mirrored inside the care home too and so the Map tool can sit comfortably alongside other culture change programmes to achieving more advanced care practices.

A copy of our A3 Infographic Poster, “Why Don’t We Go Into The Garden?” is included in this package.

ISBN No. 9780993573705
Number of pages: 48 handbook, folded Map style diagnostic tool, A3 infographic, folded to A4
Dimensions: 255 x 180 mm, wire bound handbook, Map tool A0+ folded to Map format

This package is currently issued in a biodegradable celephase sleave. A solid box file format is currently being created to stand on book shelves and aid the use of this tool longer term for purchasers.