Schools That Heal Now Published
I’m beyond excited to announce that Schools That Heal: Design with Mental Health in Mind is in production, to be released June 3rd by Island Press. Pre-Orders open now.
Category: Schools
The Benefits of Funding Nurturing, Nature-Full Schools … Instead of Police
Link to high-resolution pdf file: Funding Nurturing Nature-Full Schools Instead of Police
Why Not Now? The Incredible Urgency to Bring Nature into Schools
I’ve been obsessed with the Eagle Rock High School horticulture garden for years now, for many reasons. Partly because it is a beautiful example of designing with nature. Its walkways and little walls were made with reclaimed materials. It is softly sculpted to direct rainwater from paved areas into planting, from high places to low. […]
Chapter Three
Sometimes life unfolds, unforeseen, like a desert mirage becoming a great lake right before your eyes. The past two years have felt like this for me. The Landscape Architecture Foundation fellowship that gave me the time and resources to explore design strategies to support mental health led to connections, ideas, and opportunities. After a decade […]
The Schoolyard Is Sick
A lovely article, written by Jane Margolies for Landscape Architecture Magazine, on Eagle Rock Elementary School and working to design schools to support mental health. THE SCHOOLYARD IS SICK
First Designing Schools for Mental Health Workshop
“It’s time to begin a movement.” Those words, included in my final fellowship presentation for the Landscape Architecture Foundation last May, came true last week. Our first Designing Schools for Mental Health Workshop brought together mental health, education, design, and environmental justice professionals for a morning sharing session and afternoon policy workshop to start a […]
For the Love of Teenagers
The following is the talk I gave at last week’s Landscape Architecture Foundation Symposium in Washington, D.C. You can view the recorded talk here. During fifteen years working and living in Los Angeles I’ve visited, studied, and helped to design landscapes for at least two dozen LA Unified School District public schools. For twelve years, […]
Tense Teens: Why High Schools Should Provide Restoration
Even if you don’t yet or won’t ever have a teenager, you were one once. This one is for all of you. Teendom is a time of exploration and change and stress and too often, trauma. This year I’m using my Fellowship for Innovation and Leadership with the Landscape Architecture Foundation to look for ways high school […]
Love and Fear in LA
Image by Margaret Gerhart Sometimes things happen that make you question everything. Two weeks ago, I walked along 103rd Street toward the corner of Grape in Watts with several community advocates and a selection committee from the California Natural Resources Agency. Viviana Franco and Maria De Leon from From Lot to Spot, the non-profit who […]
Restorative Landscapes for Restorative Justice
During over a decade of personal and professional experience with Los Angeles public schools, I’ve struggled to understand the impacts that school landscapes have on our children’s hearts, minds, and bodies. So, I was thrilled to be selected as one of four Fellows for the Landscape Architecture Foundation’s first Fellowship in Leadership and Innovation to advocate for changing school […]