Progress 05/01/20 to 04/30/25
Outputs
Target Audience:Target Audience: The Integration of social and biological sciences in the field of agriculture has long been used to address issues such as global food needs, human diets and health, and economics. However, a new and emerging scenario that combines the two sciences is the use of various aspects of plants as a form of therapy and rehabilitation of individuals with specific disabilities. This area is known as Horticultural Therapy (HT). HT is an emerging profession and continues to develop and find relevance in new areas of the healthcare and rehabilitation community. The practice of HT can be conceptualized through three different types of programs, namely: vocational, therapeutic, and social programmatic designs. While the three types of programs have commonalities among them, each program model utilizes different concepts that are tailored and equipped to address specific needs and goals of individuals with disabilities. The relevance of HT within the FANH sciences comes through vocational training. Through green industry vocational training of clients with disabilities, the goal is to prepare such individuals to enter the competitive horticultural/agricultural labor workforce. New Jersey's agriculture industry is the third largest in the state behind pharmaceuticals and tourism. The largest part of the New Jersey agriculture industry includes the production of plants, trees, shrubs, and cut flowers. The US Department of Labor consistently identifies job titles under the agriculture job class as "bright outlook" jobs, with projected job growth from 2023-2033 to be 4-18% which is faster than average. With projected job growth numbers like this, the agricultural/horticulture industry seems to be a prime opportunity for targeted vocational training for individuals with disabilities as higher projected job openings often mean more chances for individuals with disabilities to obtain employment. It is well documented in the research literature that individuals with disabilities want to work and believe that they are able to work, however, individuals with disabilities continue to remain unemployed and underemployed despite the federal laws that require businesses to hire individuals with disabilities, and the various helping professions tasked with addressing vocation (special education, social workers, rehabilitation counselors, etc.). There are many factors at play that explain the occupational exclusion of individuals with disabilities, however, the most notable reasons include neurological disruption due to disability, and the jobs often provided to individuals with disabilities are often low paying jobs with menial, mundane tasks that are ultimately destructive to identity, sense of self-worth, and are not in alignment with the principles of rehabilitation. In 2020, the state-federal vocational rehabilitation problem spent approximately 3.4 billion dollars on vocational services to individuals with disabilities, however, approximately 2% of individuals with disabilities have access to employment programming. Supported Employment (SE) has been shown to be the most effective approach to improving occupational participation, however, with such limited access to SE and poor vocational outcomes of individuals with disabilities, there is a need for new novel programming to better address the needs of the disability population as well as improve the diversity of the FANH industry. It appears that the current vocational rehabilitation system is not meeting the needs of individuals with developmental disabilities. It is clear that vocational attainment has an obvious benefit to the individual with developmental disabilities; however, the purpose of this grant project was to address a broader goal of creating trained professionals with high knowledge of FANH jobs, awareness of functional limitations and psychosocial issues due to disability, green industry related technical skills, and knowledge of best practices in vocational skills training to improve upon the current shortcomings of the vocational rehabilitation system. To achieve this goal of creating trained professionals with a high knowledge of FANH jobs and disability related concerns, the targeted population for this grant was matriculating students in human science programs who also have a high knowledge and competency in the horticulture/agriculture industry (horticultural therapy students with psychology, social work, counseling, and/or other backgrounds in the helping professions). This grant served as a "Train-the-Trainer" program, developing a training module for Horticultural Therapy (HT) students to equip them with specialized knowledge, skills, and abilities to support individuals with disabilities in achieving and maintaining employment. The program focused on providing HT students with vocational expertise to effectively assist individuals with disabilities in horticulture and agriculture job settings, ultimately aiming to improve vocational outcomes. Ultimately, the "Train-the-Trainer" program aims to address the many barriers that prevent individuals with disabilities from entering the workforce, thereby significantly enhancing employee diversity within the FANH sciences. For this project, we focused on individuals with developmental disorders, specifically autism spectrum disorder (ASD) aged 16-21 who were nearing the end of secondary education and preparing for work. Students were recruited from a special services high school, including a traditional high school with a special education program. Both high schools are local to the New Brunswick, NJ area. For these students with ASD, vocational skills training is an essential component to achieving independence in the community. According to the American Psychological Association (2022), Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th edition Text Revision, ASD is characterized by the following criteria (core symptoms): 1) The individual has persistent deficits in social communication and social interactions; 2) The individual exhibits restricted, repetitive patterns of behavior, interests, or activities such as repetitive motor movements, ritualistic behavior and inflexibility to change (rigid thinking, difficulty transitioning from one task to another); 3) The individual presents with preoccupation and/or fixed interests; and, 4) The individual is observed to be hyper- or hypoactive to sensory input. When reviewing the criteria of ASD diagnoses, the condition impairs an individual's ability to socialize and interact with others. It is widely accepted in the healthcare community that individuals with ASD are "who they are", and that their condition/impairments may change a bit over time but will most likely continue throughout life. Considering the prognosis of the ASD condition, establishing goals when working with ASD clients are directed at making efforts to "support" the individuals to achieve the goals they desire to achieve. Using this philosophy, our approach to vocational skills training focused on developing competency in green industry technical skills to get an FANH job and focused on developing the work-related social skills needed to keep a job once employment has been obtained. Changes/Problems:While the Rutgers SEBS Green Industry Vocational Skills training program has experienced many accomplishments, there were numerous challenges in carrying out this project as first envisioned. The first challenge came in the first year of receiving the grant in 2020. At this point in time, the Covid-19 rates were still high and not everyone had received a vaccine for the virus. Rutgers University had strict policies and protocols in place regarding workplace safety and reducing the transmission of the virus in order for programs on campus to operate. One such protocol was mask wearing. We found it very difficult to identifying clients with ASD to participate in our program who could tolerate wearing a face mask throughout the duration of the program day. Many individuals with ASD experience sensory aversions that make it intolerable to wear a covering over their face. This issue caused the program start to delay one year but continued to be a persistent issue that lasted into year 2. Another issue experienced with implementing this project was inconsistent referrals from the school systems that we affiliated with nearby campus. When first conceptualizing this project, individuals with ASD were the target clientele because there is a plethora of programs both on campus and nearby campus that serve individuals with ASD. We found, however, that these programs/agencies were less willing to refer clients to our program. We believe the number of client referrals was lower than anticipated because referring agencies may have been reluctant to send clients outside their programs, as doing so would result in a loss of potentially billable service hours. Despite our attempts to work collaboratively with the referring agencies, it is our point of view that we were viewed as "outsiders" and were not integrated into the overall services that are provided at the agency. This was evident by staff and clients from the referring agency no-showing for scheduled programming, and/or attempting to access outdoor training spaces on their own time without communicating with the horticultural therapy instructor and HT student interns. Regarding the referrals made by the nearby school systems, the schools shared a similar issue in which students involved in the extended school year (summer) programming were not referred because of the school requirement to teach on-site. Gary Altman attempted to meet with the school systems several times to address the issue of lack of referrals, to which the school system agreed to refer recently graduated students. Referrals of recently graduated students did not occur, and it appeared that communication with students ceased upon graduation, resulting in a lack of transition planning related to their vocational goals. Majority of the clientele that participated in the program were obtained from the community, through word-of-mouth, and by members of the Rutgers faculty and staff who had a family member with a disability. This issue with referrals highlights the need for the Rutgers SEBS Green Industry Vocational Skills training program to become an eligible service provided though the NJ Division of Developmental Disabilities so that the program can be officially listed as an available service for individuals with disabilities. Affiliation with the Division of Developmental Disabilities would enable the Rutgers SEBS program to bill for services directly, therefore eliminated the issue experienced with the agencies in the community. Another challenge experienced with regards to the referrals received was that the individuals with disabilities were observed to not be well prepared for vocational skills training. As a part of special education programming, students with disabilities are required to be engaged in pre-vocational education and experiences, to improve/develop work habits and behaviors, socials skills, task management skills, problem-solving skills, fine and gross motor skills, safety awareness, self-advocacy and awareness. It was our experience that the clients referred to this program were in no way prepared with this information and therefore were not work ready, which caused issued with being able to accept clients into our program. Ultimately, this issue was so prevalent that the education provided in the vocational skills training internship was amended during the final year. We assume that pre-vocational skills education was initially impacted by COVID-19 and the resulting inability for students to observe work sites, which hindered their development. However, over time, it became evident that special education programs often lack sufficient industry knowledge to provide meaningful vocational guidance. This, combined with a significant gap in services between high school graduation and entry into the workforce, creates major challenges for individuals with disabilities in successfully transitioning to employment. We believe that the future role of this vocational skills training program will be to serve as a vital bridge between classroom education and employment within the FANH professions. The future direction of this green industry vocational skills training program includes the integration of a family component, which is currently missing from the existing protocol. This grant project highlighted the essential role families play in supporting individuals with disabilities as they prepare for employment--serving as transportation providers, schedule managers, and routine enforcers. It was also frequently observed that families often relay outdated or inaccurate information about employment and Social Security disability benefits, often due to misinformation from healthcare professionals suggesting that employment will result in a loss of benefits. These misconceptions can create fear and reluctance, ultimately discouraging families from supporting their loved one's pursuit of work. Adding a family component--such as informational support groups or involving families directly in vocational planning--could help address these concerns and promote more successful employment outcomes. Overall, we believe this grant funding was essential in moving this program from the development phase into active implementation. There is a clear and pressing need for this type of support for individuals with disabilities pursuing employment. Once equipped with the necessary job skills, these individuals demonstrate strong motivation and a genuine desire to contribute meaningfully in the workplace. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? There are several training manual templates that were created as a result of this project. The Job Analysis Template, Green Industry Vocational skills Training Intake Interview questionnaire, Green Industry Evaluation Report Template can be found in the OneDrive link ((https://rutgersconnect-my.sharepoint.com/personal/gla32_sebs_rutgers_edu/_layouts/15/onedrive.aspx?id=%2Fpersonal%2Fgla32%5Fsebs%5Frutgers%5Fedu%2FDocuments%2FSEBS%20HT%20NIFA%20Final%20Report%20Products%20Documents&ct=1746026440404&or=OWA%2DNT%2DMail&cid=5f9ac7f9%2Da1ac%2D1216%2D3486%2D35787551158a&ga=1). The Rutgers SEBS Green Industry Vocational Skills Training Program Description is a one-page overview of the complete program package of vocational skills training interventions that is provided by HT students to clients with disabilities. Each subject area outlined on the program description face sheet has a session plan and teaching materials utilizing the BPR approach. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The primary dissemination of the results was through participation and presentatation at the American Horticultural therapy Associations annual meetings: Gary Altman guest lectured on the topic of "Vocational Evaluation and Assessment" for the Rutgers University graduate level Rehabilitation Counseling - Clinical Mental Health Counseling track course in the Department of Psychiatric Rehabilitation and Counseling Professions in February 2021. A presentation titled, "Vocational rehabilitation and horticultural therapy: A conceptual framework of practice for improved vocational outcomes" was accepted for the American Horticultural Therapy Association Annual Conference, Kansas City, MO in September 2022. This presentation provided an overview and explanation of the theory behind the Rutgers SEBS vocational skills training program. This conference presentation was given by Gary Altman along with 2 NIFA-HEC funded horticultural therapy interns. A presentation titled "Vocational assessment in horticultural therapy" was accepted for the American Horticultural Therapy Association Annual Virtual Conference in October 2023. This presentation provided information about psychometric assessments, how to select assessments, who can administer and interpret assessments. Gary Altman guest lectured on the topic of Job Analysis for the Rutgers University graduate level Rehabilitation Counseling - Clinical Menal Health Counseling track course in the Department of Psychiatric Rehabilitation and Counseling Professions in March 2023, and March 2021. Horticultural therapy treatment practices & current trends in the helping professions. Presentation accepted for the American Horticultural therapy Association Annual Conference, Raleigh, North Carolina in October 2024. This session provided an overview of the vocational horticultural therapy programming and needs to improve vocational outcomes of clients served Gary Altman was asked to provide an overview of the vocational horticultural therapy training model at the American Horticultural Therapy Association Virtual Panel Discussion Webinar Series in March 2024 Gary Altman organized a mini symposium/workshop in collaboration with the Horticultural Therapy program at Oregon State University in August 2024. This symposium provided an overview of the vocational horticultural therapy programming, shortcomings and gaps in the current education, and shared insights gleaned from the Rutgers SEBS vocational skills training program. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Over the past 5 years, this grant project has enabled us to develop a course designed to specifically address the psychosocial aspects of vocational skills training for individuals with disabilities. The course, "Concepts and Application of Vocational Skills Training in Horticultural Therapy" provides the knowledge, skills, and abilities to utilize labor market data to identify in demand FANH jobs, provide skills to be able to systematically analyze jobs so that HT students can gather data for the purpose of training, accommodate/modify jobs to address functional limitations of disability, and also address psychological issues that prevent individuals from taking the steps to engage in the work after completion of secondary education. We experienced significant issues in working with clients, client family members, and the referring school systems that lead to an overhaul of the internship course for 2024. The internship course was overhauled to address training gaps identified in its initial version. The revised course placed greater emphasis on developing job readiness, creating individualized work-based plans to keep clients aligned with their vocational goals, identifying relevant qualifications for resumes, enhancing financial literacy, and applying effective strategies for engaging with potential employers in the FANH industries. Please refer to the changes/problems section of this report for more detail on this programmatic change. Since the rollout of this vocational horticultural therapy internship course, 14 students completed the course. 11 students were funded by the NIFA grant, and 3 students enrolled in the course without funding (due to being non-matriculating students). The internship often occurs close to the end of the degree program, and several students have chosen career paths directly related to vocational rehabilitation/green industry vocational skills training for individuals with disabilities. After completing our internship and graduating, one student applied and enrolled in a master's degree in rehabilitation counseling (vocational rehabilitation counseling), another student pursued employment at a horticultural skills training program at a secondary school for individuals with disabilities, another past student became employed as the workforce development coordinator at an indoor vertical farm facilitating vocational programming for individuals with developmental disabilities. Another past student pursued a different, but related, avenue of vocational skills training for incarcerated adults preparing for entry into the community. Two past students who enrolled in the vocational skills training internship interviewed for a position as a vocational skills educator at a NJ state psychiatric hospital greenhouse and nursery on the hospital campus, however, the positions were not filled and the postings were removed after discovery that the previous vocational skills educator misused pesticides, fungicides, and herbicides and the program was closed due to contamination of the grounds. It is currently unknown if this program will reopen, however, it is the perspective of the Rutgers SEBS Green Industry Vocational Skills training program that this incident only highlights the need for more highly trained individuals in the workforce. Efforts: The first effort to develop science-based knowledge to people was the development of an internship course. The internship course was designed to be a 4-week course that provided the background information regarding vocational assessment, utilization of labor market data to identify essential FANH job skills to teach individuals with disabilities. This course was provided in-person in conjunction with the green industry vocational skills internship. The vocational skills internship was designed to be an intensive FANH training intervention. Sessions were offered 5 days a week from 10 AM to 3 PM. Each day from 10:15 to 10:30 AM began with a morning check-in period designed to help clients get settled and acclimate to the greenhouse workspace. At 10:30 AM, HT interns would facilitate a green industry skills lesson based upon the labor market survey conducted in 2020. From 11:00 AM to 12:00 PM, HT student interns will transition from the classroom to a hands-on setting related to the green industry skill taught in the previous session, allowing them to practice the skill they just learned. This process of learning a skill in the classroom followed by practicing it in a real-life setting was repeated in the afternoon; however, the focus shifted from a green industry technical skill to a work-related social skill. To achieve the goal of providing both vocational technical skills and work-related social skills, a training protocol was developed utilizing a direct skills teaching approach. According to the direct skills teaching approach, the HT intern demonstrated the skill to be learned in the session, then engaged the client in the skill directly, before encouraging the client to engage in the skill independently. The direct skills teaching approach was used to teach both the horticulture technical skills, as well as the work-related soft skills. Direct skills teaching is radically different than traditional horticultural therapy interventions that encourage exploration and experimentation. Because the approach to vocational skills training differs significantly from traditional horticultural therapy methods, it is important to introduce horticultural therapists to this novel model. To initiate the re-education of current horticultural therapists interested in offering vocational skills training, Gary Altman organized a two-day workshop in collaboration with the horticultural therapy program at Oregon State University in Corvallis, OR, in August 2024. This workshop exposed attendees to the new paradigm of vocational horticultural therapy and explained the differences between traditional horticultural therapy (focus on exploration, personal development, and experimentation) and vocational horticultural therapy (usage of data, analytical skills, direct skills teaching, and demonstration of skills competency). An overview of the Rutgers SEBS Green Industry Vocational Skills Training program and the philosophical underpinnings behind its development was provided by Gary Altman. HT student interns also completed additional research and presented on select topics that were covered as part of the vocational internship course (Job Development/Job Carving, Direct Skills Teaching, Findings of a Literature Review on work-related social skills).
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Progress 05/01/23 to 04/30/24
Outputs
Target Audience: Undergraduate students with interest in becoming a professionally registered horticultural therapist and are also interested in vocational rehabilitation from Rutgers and other academic institutions. Targeted individuals with disabilities in the autism spectrum disorder, intellectual/developmental disability; and, Current and aspiring practitioners of horticultural therapy, vocational rehabilitation, and disability services and other related professionals. Efforts: The Summer 2024 vocational horticultural therapy internship/workshop was announced on 2/26/24, and we received 4 applicants through our online application system to fill a total of 4 internship positions. We did not receive any applicants from other universities for this upcoming learning experience. We have, however been in contact with the horticultural therapy certificate program at the University of Oregon to develop and offer a Mini symposium to their student body as well as local horticultural therapy practitioners specifically addressing issues pertaining to providing green industry vocational skills training to individuals with disabilities. University of Oregon expressed interest in hosting the mini symposium, however, the content, schedule, and dates and yet to be determined as of 4/11/24. Changes/Problems:The major challenge experienced in implementing this vocational rehabilitation program is the availability of clients (individuals on the autism spectrum) for the program. Since the inception of the program, we have been targeting school-to-work transition aged youth in this program and have partnered with special services schools in the New Brunswick, NJ area. Over the past 3 years, however, we have observed a progression of hesitancy of the special services schools to make referrals to our program, aside from complications resulting from the COVID pandemic. The hesitancy to refer clients to our program is due to a conflict of interest with their own programs. (Special services schools are funded by the New Brunswick School District to provide in-house training services to students. The conflict-of-interest issue stems from referring active students at their school to the Rutgers Horticultural Therapy Vocational Rehabilitation Program to conduct vocational training that special services schools already receive payment to perform). We attempted to address this issue with the school system by requesting the school to make referrals of their recent graduates to our program. We anticipated that it would be a better fit because the individuals with ASD who have completed their education would be looking for work at this point. When speaking with the ASD student group and the school staff, sufficient interest in our Rutgers program continues to exist, but lack of referrals still remains even after clients left the school system, likely due to the perceived conflict of interest. The inability to attract appropriate clientele to the program reduces the number of Horticultural Therapy (HT) undergraduate students that can participate in the program. As an example, a 1 client/2 HT students ratio creates a comfortable learning environment by preventing overloading and overstimulation of the client. For this reason, we originally budgeted for 6 students to participate in year 4, but we only accepted 4 (3 matriculating and 1 grant ineligible non-matriculating) to avoid ratio imbalance. To address the issues experienced thus far, we are adjusting and reorganizing the program to meet the needs of Horticultural Therapy students, and to complete the goals of this grant. As part of our adjustment to address issues associated with the New Brunswick school system, we intend to redirect the program not to include students with disabilities as clients unless we can reach an agreement with the Special Services schools within the New Brunswick school district. We are currently developing a new 2-week green industry vocational skills training program for our undergraduate HT students. The course will reflect upon and respond to the issues we have learned thus far with the Vocational Rehabilitation process. In addition to this new program, we will participate in a symposium on vocational skills training education/programming hosted by the Oregon State University Horticultural Therapy Program. Travel to conferences has also been a challenge and is a direct result of the Covid pandemic, in which annual meetings of the American Horticultural Therapy Association were held virtually. For the final year of the grant we plan tocover the cost of 4 horticultural therapy participating in the new 2-week green industry vocational skills training program to attend a mini symposium at Oregon State University (OSU) through their Horticultural Therapy Program. The mini-symposium will provide a forum for relevant discussion on progression, challenges and advancements in the vocational rehabilitation field. Undergraduates from OSU and Rutgers students will be able to present case studies, work collaboratively to develop new idea and also attend field tips to clinical sites that support Horticultural Therapy. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?As mentioned above in the Efforts section of the report, we have begun making efforts to educate other horticultural therapist practitioners in the vocational skills training model that we have created as a result of this project by partnering with Oregon State University to hold a mini symposium on the subject. Aside from presentations given at the American Horticultural Therapy Association annual conferences, this is our first attempt at providing education to practitioners who are working in the field and are interested in providing vocational skills training services to their clients served. Additionally, Co-PI Gary Altman will assess whether or not this green industry vocational skills training program model is an adequate platform to develop the work-related soft skills needed to obtain and maintain green industry employment by utilizing the infrastructure that was created as a result of this grant project to complete his dissertation study on the effectiveness of a vocational horticultural therapy program on the development of work-related soft skills and complete his Ph.D. in Psychiatric Rehabilitation - Counselor Education and Supervision degree How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?A presentation describing our program, its goals, and assessment tools and procedures was submitted and accepted by the American Horticultural Therapy Association for the Association's annual online conference held on October 20-21, 2023. The Presentation was titled, "Vocational Assessment in Horticultural Therapy": The conference presentation was given by Gary Altman. Students did not participate in this presentation as the conference was held online, there were technological issues with students logging in to present, and also there was a miscommunication from the AHTA about the presentation time due to differing time zones. The conference presentation content included a description of vocational HT programming and the need and role of assessment to be included as part of vocational HT services. The assessment helps to identify and clarify strengths and abilities of the client to make a better client/green industry job match. Some assessments utilized in our program require specific training and education, while some assessments do not. The presentation described assessments that can be administered by undergraduate students with some training, while others require an advanced degree and/or specific training. The presentation also provided information on how to design an assessment battery (list of multiple assessments to address specific questions such as, "Can this client work?" and "What kind of green industry work can the client do?"). The presentation reviewed information on validity and reliability considerations when selecting assessment instruments. Assessment validity is a statistical concept that refers to how well the assessment instrument measures what it is intended to measure. Reliability in assessment refers to whether an assessment instrument gives the same results each time it is used. In vocational HT, we aim to only use assessment instruments that are high in validity and high in reliability to achieve the best outcomes of the client (i.e. the best client/green industry job match). Last, the AHTA presentation reviewed ethical and cultural considerations in using assessment instruments with clients. Ethical and cultural considerations are important in assessment as often assessments are not created with individuals with disabilities or cognitive impairments in mind and this can skew the results of the assessments. Therefore, some assessment results must be interpreted accordingly. In terms of cultural considerations, it is important to consider the various cultural considerations such as ethnicity, style of communication, language, educational level, values, and customs as all of these factors have a significant impact on the results of an assessment instrument. By the end of the AHTA conference presentation, the attendees were able to describe the significance of assessment in vocational HT programming, the attendees were able to describe how to obtain and use labor market data for the purpose of vocational HT programming and describe various approaches to using assessments in vocational HT programming. In addition, to the above conference, we have given a presentation to the American Horticultural Therapy Association monthly webinar panel discussion celebrating National Horticultural Therapy Week on March 19, 2024. After the presentation was given, we have been approached by a practitioner and horticultural therapy educator who is affiliated with the Canadian Horticultural Therapy Association. A meeting is scheduled for 4/15/24 to review the outcomes of the green industry vocational skills training program and explore the possibility/feasibility of replicating the model in vocational programs provided by Canadian horticultural therapy practitioners. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?This project has enabled the Rutgers SEBS Horticultural Therapy Program to develop best practices to engaging individuals with disabilities in realistic work opportunity, however, it has become clear that there is a bigger need for advocacy of individuals to be included in vocations/vocational preparation than was initially expected due to several reasons such as agencies being unwilling to refer clients to our program because clients would then be absent from the referring program and the referring program will not be able to bill for services. Within the next reporting period, we plan to address the issues we have experienced in implementing this program by incorporating significant adjustments to the internship course into our programming. These changes include updating the course content to include more advocacy work to involve clients in green industry vocational work. These changes have been described in the previously submitted No-Cost Extension. In summary, we plan to re-organize the internship experience to develop a 2-week workshop focused on Horticultural Therapy students to address issues associated with the many facets of developing, implementing and sustaining a vocational rehabilitation program in Green Industry Skills. All the challenges associated with the past year's program will be included in the workshop to address these as a learning component. We hope this new workshop will provide a better road map for the vocational rehabilitation program establishment.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Since the end of the first training session in 2021, we have observed several students graduate from their baccalaureate degree programs and pursue employment in a vocational skills training related field. Two students obtained employment at a special services school providing basic horticultural education and skills training in a prevocational program. One student obtained employment in a public high school within their high school horticulture education program and is currently seeking a certificate in special education. Another student completed the internship and immediately enrolled in a Master of Science in rehabilitation counseling program (rehabilitation counselors are also known as vocational counselors). In addition to students entering into vocational skills training related professions and/or pursing advanced education and training in vocational rehabilitation or special education, we are beginning to see a noticeable change in the green industry vocational skills training labor market in New Jersey, where there was not much of an interest in green industry vocational skills training prior to the start of this grant project. The collaborations between Rutgers SEBS and community rehabilitation programs, urban farms, the creation of a vocational horticultural therapist job description for the state of New Jersey, as well as, collaboration efforts amongst horticultural therapy practitioners in Canada (See "how have the results been disseminated to communities" section below) indicate that this vocational horticultural therapy skills training model fills a gap where training was not being offered before, is needed by clients and programs that serve clients and is in high demand.
Publications
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