Press Release
Branchburg, New Jersey
September 3, 2010
Laura DePrado, President of Final Touch Plantscaping, LLC is the recipient of the Mid-Atlantic Horticultural Therapy Network 2010 Linda M. Ciccantelli Scholarship. The scholarship is awarded to a student at Rutgers University, Temple University, or the New York Botanical Garden for outstanding horticultural practices and vision. Laura is a student studying horticultural therapy at the Rutgers University School of Environmental and Biological Sciences. The MAHTN is a registered association of horticultural therapy professionals and students in New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania. The MAHTN supports the integration of horticultural therapy programs within therapeutic and rehabilitative practices, and promotes professional development and standards through communication, education, and peer networking opportunities.
The award will be presented at the MAHTN annual conference at Audubon Greenwich, in Greenwich, Connecticut on September 25, 2010.
In 1976, Linda M. Ciccantelli, a pioneer in horticultural therapy, originated the now well-known horticultural therapy program at the Magee Rehabilitation Hospital in Center City Philadelphia, a facility that specializes in rehabilitation after brain and spinal cord injuries and strokes. By 1993, her successful program’s activities were held in a sixth-floor roof-top greenhouse at the hospital, and was featured in a 2004 Time Magazine article.
“I am deeply honored.” said DePrado. “Linda’s work has positively changed many lives, and I am dedicated to continuing horticultural therapy in that same spirit.”
Laura DePrado and her business is committed to the growing profession of horticultural therapy. Laura specializes in creating customized horticultural therapy programs for diverse groups for rehabilitation. Her selection for the award recognizes the outstanding horticultural therapy program that she conceived and developed for Anderson House, a residential half-way house in Whitehouse Station, New Jersey, for women recovering from drug and alcohol addiction. The horticultural therapy program is now in its second successful year and is enthusiastically embraced by the Anderson House residents, who hail from all 21 New Jersey counties. For more information about the Anderson House project, see Spotlight On Anderson House at finaltouchplantscaping.com.
Laura DePrado may be reached by phone at 908 872-8387, by e-mail at laura@finaltouchplantscaping.com, or through her web site finaltouchplantscaping.com