An important element of erasing the taboo and stigma that surrounds child death is providing spaces – public spaces – where the loss of families can be validated, where the names of the lost can be etched, where joy over the child that was can be experienced and shared, where open dialogue about loss can be undertaken.
Research from many countries and cultures has demonstrated the healing effects of therapeutic landscapes. Florence Nightingale first wrote about the therapy of visual connections to nature in 1860.
"Gardens have a mythology, a poetry, and a history, strongly
linked to life cycles and the processes of healing, renewal, and
ultimately dying."
(Gerlach-Spriggs, Kaufman & Warner, 1998)
As such, Gardens of Grace is working to establish public gardens which can create awareness and discussion about loss, encourage parents to openly celebrate and acknowledge that their children were, and can offer a soothing but happy place for families of loss to visit.
"In the garden of memory, in the palace of dreams...that is where you and I shall meet."
-Alice Through
The Looking Glass
