Root in Nature (RIN) is a social enterprise dedicated to strengthening human health by connecting people with plants and nature through therapeutic horticulture. As a global training hub, Root in Nature™ equips allied health professionals, educators, and practitioners with evidence-based resources and practical tools through its suite of online courses and the international GrowTH Network (Grow Therapeutic Horticulture). These offerings provide training, community, and ready-to-use resources that make it easier for practitioners to integrate therapeutic horticulture into their work with confidence and support.

RIN is one of Partnerships for Nature’s international collaborators, working alongside other collaborating organizations to advance nature-based healing and education worldwide.

Through our collaboration, RIN provides course content, resources, and expertise that we together adapt and assist in translating for use in regions such as Ukraine, Armenia, and Georgia. This partnership helps expand access to therapeutic horticulture in communities affected by war and other traumatic events, supporting displaced families, veterans, elders, and others who benefit from nature-based healing.

The Council of Botanical Gardens and Arboretums of Ukraine is an umbrella organization representing all significant botanical gardens and arboretums of the country. The Council supports the work of Partnerships for Nature directly, and through its many members, including PN’s most active current garden partners in Kyiv, Lviv, Kharkiv, Kryvyi Rih, Odesa, Chernivtsi, and Zaporizhiia. These gardens have, with PN’s support, introduced a wide range of new programs in recent years to improve and expand nature education and healing, including impactful therapeutic horticulture activities for those experiencing the stress and trauma of war. Ukraine’s botanical gardens have been serving as oases of respite, recovery, education and healing since the war began in 2022.

The National Botanical Garden of Georgia (NBGG) contains about 350 acres of diverse natural and horticultural landscapes in the heart of Georgia’s biggest city and capital, Tbilisi.  It has a rich historical legacy, renowned botanical collections, and is an international leader in the study and protection of biodiversity, including Georgia’s own endemic flora. 

NBGG leaders began actively developing environmental educational programs in 2006, leading to today’s wide-ranging activities for schoolchildren, university students, and adults, including several popular annual events and celebrations.  PN held an impactful environmental international education workshop at NBGG in 2022; in 2023 two NBGG staff educators traveled to the US for training through a PN program. 

Current NBGG priorities include launching programs in therapeutic horticulture with local partners, disseminating and popularizing knowledge about biodiversity, and the opening in 2026 of a new visitor and education center on its grounds.  NBGG is a longtime active member of Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI).

Botanic Gardens Conservation International is a membership organization representing botanic gardens in more than 100 countries around the world. It is an independent UK charity established in 1987 to link the botanic gardens of the world in a global network for plant conservation.

BGCI  aims to support and empower its members and the wider conservation community, so that its knowledge and expertise can be applied to reversing the threat of extinction facing plants. Its vision is a world in which plant diversity is valued, secure and supports all life, and its mission is to mobilize botanic gardens and engage partners in securing plant diversity for the well-being of people and the planet. 

BGCI is one of Partnerships for Nature’s international collaborators, and works with PN to advance nature education and healing through joint workshops and training, and in some cases joint fundraising campaigns to support botanical gardens and their education programs in times of crisis.

North Carolina Botanical Garden (NCBG), in collaboration with NC State Extension, is an international partner advancing therapeutic horticulture education through capacity-building, training, and collaborative program development. Together, NCBG and NC State Extension offer an Online Certificate in Therapeutic Horticulture (CTH), which introduces students to the ways therapeutic horticulture can support human health and well-being across physical, cognitive, emotional, spiritual, vocational, and social dimensions. The CTH program has engaged participants throughout the United States and internationally, contributing to the continued growth of plant- and nature-based healing practices in diverse settings.

As collaborators with Partnerships for Nature, NCBG and NC State Extension played a key role in supporting therapeutic horticulture initiatives in Ukraine and Armenia using a “training the trainers” model focused on long-term sustainability. In Ukraine, this partnership included translating select CTH courses into Ukrainian with support from NC State’s instructional design team, delivering webinars and consultation, and supporting botanical gardens and educational institutions as they launched locally led programs serving civilians and veterans affected by war.

Together, NCBG, NC State Extension, and Partnerships for Nature have worked to strengthen local leadership, expand access to therapeutic horticulture education, and support partners in adapting nature-based healing approaches to meet community-identified needs in regions affected by conflict and displacement.