A groundbreaking horticulture programme has taken root at a sober-living house to help people in rehabilitation turn over a new leaf.

Focus Counselling Services started the Root and Rise project in 2023 to use gardening to help give residents a newfound sense of self.

The programme, which partners with AgraLiving, Nature’s Compass and gardener Greg Wilson, has helped 24 people leave the St George’s centre with new skills, better emotional regulation and a renewed self-image.

Leslie Grant, the executive director of Focus Counselling, said: “My colleagues and I decided, ‘hey, let’s just do a little small garden’ and then it morphed into Root and Rise.”

The name, according to Mr Grant, has a dual meaning — not only did it reference the plants grown across the 3.3-acre property, it also encouraged “setting roots” to build a foundation and “rising together” to overcome their challenges.

Each of the men at Focus Counselling had struggled with drug or alcohol abuse, which many later explained came from personal challenges.

Mr Grant said: “One of the things we realised some time ago is that when clients came to us, they didn’t have a sense of belonging or connection or even purpose.”

Root and Rise, he explained, was intended to give these men valuable life skills and a sense of accomplishment to help them become a “visible part of the community”.

“It’s recovery in action,” he added. “Not all the time do people see recovery — a lot of times we just see the negative stuff, we may see the negative news reports — and so Root and Rise was born out of that.”

Participants tend to two spiral mandala gardens in the programme, which they used to grow ornamental flowers and produce such as varieties of kale, lettuce and root vegetables.

They created their own mulch from plant waste and used material such as cardboard and old newspapers to give the raised gardens structure.

Residents further nursed native and endemic trees, including fruit trees, and were even building a greenhouse to grow more produce.

Mr Grant said the men hold a weekly market every Friday between March and June, and hoped to branch out into selling their own teas, juices and even candles and soaps from as much of their own produce as possible.

He added that the men hoped to reforest the entire grounds, through which they would learn about sustainability, food security and, through a new class, get their greenhouse certification.

As for the impact, Mr Grant said it’s been “excellent”, adding: “The guys get up and they’re looking for what’s next.

“They want to show their skills — both the ones that they’ve learnt and the ones that they come with.”

The participants have supported this view.

Le-Jai Tucker, 26, said he had been in the programme for four months, and although he came in with a background in landscaping, he learnt many practical skills.

He said: “Not everything has been in the garden — I’ve learnt how to seal cracks in the water tanks and different techniques for painting.

“There’s a lot of different things that I’ve learnt since I’ve been here, not just things in the garden but other bits of trade work that I can take out there and show my nieces, my nephews and my daughter the things that I’ve learnt.”

Mr Tucker said he realised he was a lot smarter than he initially thought and that the programme taught him not to give up on himself.

He added: “Sometimes, as people, we tend to doubt ourselves out of fear.

“I’ve learnt to overcome my fear and just embrace it — that’s how I learnt more about myself.”

Mikhail Butterfield, 35, admitted that he was initially sceptical when he joined the programme.

Now, 15 months later, he has gone on to get his horticulture certification and enjoys what he has learnt about the land and himself.

He explained: “Before I came here, I didn’t have a good past, but now I live a different life.

“Since being here I’ve learnt so much and the experience I’ve had is amazing. Life couldn’t be any better than this.”

He added: “Being here, my family’s proud of me and I’m got some growth that I want in my life, so I’m working towards that.”

Mr Butterfield said he hoped to save his money and go to school for veterinary services or law.

Patrick Bean, 59, said he had been in the programme for three months and that it helped him to stay on the right path.

He said: “I’m learning that I have value and that I am capable.

“I suffer from a lack of self-esteem despite the success I’ve had; there’s always a fear of failure and a fear of success, but there’s a general fear of the unknown.

“I’m learning how to adapt and how to walk courageously into the unknown.”

Mr Bean recognised that counselling carried a stigma, but said that he found his time here “very uplifting and exciting”.

He added that his time in the group home taught him patience and understanding.

Mr Bean said he wanted to live a normal life after his time at Focus Counselling Services.

• To learn more about Focus Counselling Services, visitfocus.bm