Media Coverage

Suburban Trends
By Darren Dean
August 22, 2007

Garden provides healing for NewBridge clients

Sometimes there is more to life than what you see, and sometimes a garden is more than a garden.

"A lot of the things that you need to be successful in life," said NewBridge Services' John Bierne, "you also need to be successful in the garden".

Equating the growth of the very popular botanical garden operated by NewBridge's adult day program's clients with the human condition, he noted, "You have to water. You have to fertilize. Sometimes storms come and you can give up or you can dust yourself off and get out there and work."

For Bierne, the idea of working together to create the Newark Pompton Turnpike garden has always been part of the plan, white skill building is another.

"The idea is to use this therapy to help the goals and objectives set for (the clients) - to help build each person vocationally," he said.

Despite the idea that the term "therapy" may conjure up connotations of work, clients are not daunted by the tasks the garden presents.

"It doesn't feel like work at all," said Rene, a NewBridge client. "In fact, I look forward to it. I'd never had a green thumb. I could probably kill a plastic plant. But this is very fulfilling. When I look at this, I know I had something to do with it. I actually do gardening at home now and (the plants) are thriving."

Dominick, a former team leader who has since moved on to full time work outside the organization, still returns each week to the garden.

"This teaches you hard work and responsibility," he said. "This garden has become so important in this town. To not have it would be a real shame. In a place like this where a lot of people are struggling with depression - this helped me immensely - to get out, to get fresh air, to not be sitting inside. It's that simple. It's actually doing instead of feeling helpless."

Bierne also reiterated the importance of having this garden on a main street in a popular community.

"We wanted to have it somewhere that the community would see it and benefit from it," he said. "In mental health, we're often faced with stereotypes - often communities are hesitant about a mental health center. The idea was that the community would see the garden and learn that the garden was created by our clients."

It is not a small community garden, by any stretch of the imagination. While many other gardens of this kind have annuals and marigolds, the scope of this garden is more far reaching, with plants represented from every type of possible climate - from desert to tropical.

While the garden is open for passers-by to visit each day, NewBridge hosts a fall Garden Party, scheduled this year for Sept. 20, which provides the opportunity to learn about the plant varieties, where they are from and what they are used for in their particular part of the world.

"It's a time for people in the community who wouldn't typically come anywhere near here to come and to not only see the garden, but to meet the people behind it," said Bierne of the Garden Party.

Partially funded by the organization itself, the program relies heavily upon donations from other sources, including plant donations, individual donations and volunteers. This year NewBridge will be selling DVDs and photography of the garden at the Garden Party to help boost its budget.