Growth Beyond Challenges: Cultivating Wellness at Growing Works

In this episode of Farm Talk, we’re joined by Jenn Rodriguez, the program manager of Growing Works. Jenn kicks off the show by introducing us to Growing Works and its profound connection to the mental health community. She delves into the diverse team behind Growing Works and illuminates the process of getting started with the program.

As our conversation progresses, Jenn sheds light on the immense benefits individuals with mental health challenges experience through their work at Growing Works. She shares touching stories about the individuals who thrive in this nurturing environment and how the program is tailored to their needs. We also learn about the program’s operational details, including its schedule, funding, and partnerships with organizations like Ventura County Behavioral Health and Turning Point. Throughout the episode, Jenn highlights Growing Works’ impactful festivals, workshops, and its role as a beacon of hope and empowerment in the community.

Watch the full episode HERE

What you’ll learn in this episode:
0:00 Welcome to the show and introduction of our guest, Jenn Rodriguez, program manager of Growing Works
0:35 Jenn Rodriguez tell us what Growing Works is and what the connection is to the mental health community
1:10 Who works at Growing Works and what getting started looks like
2:36 How those with mental health challenges are benefited by working at Growing Works
3:21 Jenn tells us more about the individuals who work at Growing Works
8:25 The days and hours of the program at Growing Works is based on the contract and funding provided by Ventura County Behavioral Health.
9:03 What is Competitive Employment?
10:21 Growing Works has 2 festivals a year: Their Spring Fling and A Fall Festival
11:11 Jenn digs deeper into describing how individuals get involved at Growing Works
13:07 How Growing Works manages their employees who struggle with mental health illness
15:51 The connection between Growing Works and Turning Point
16:30 Find out if the Growing Works employees live in a Turning Point facility or if they live on their own
18:08 Other activities Growing Works has throughout the year and when Growing Works is open to the public
19:06 Who leads the workshops?
19:35 The future of Growing Works
20:58 The awesome watering system Growing Works has on their site
21:48 Where Growing Works sells and some of the clients that they work with
23:12 Jenn tells us where Growing Works receives their funding
23:52 How can people get more involved and contact information and social media for Turning Point and Growing Works
24:44 The age of Growing Works
25:26 Where the idea of mental health patients working with plants originated and what Growing works grows
26:46 Growing Works as a resource for knowledge on water conservation and much more
27:22 An amazing success story shared by Jenn
30:13 A special thank you to our sponsor, Opus Escrow

Related Episodes:
Unveiling Humanity Through Compassion, Hope & a Costume
A Recovery Oasis at Nate’s Place

Growing Works Nursery:
turningpointfoundation.org
1736 S Lewis Rd, Camarillo, Ca 93012
(805) 586-9900

Contact Paul Ward:
805-479-5004
paul@homeandranchteam.com

Have ideas for future episodes? We’d love to answer your questions – leave a comment! For any home buying or home selling needs in the Ventura County area of California, please reach out to Paul@HomeAndRanchTeam.com or visit www.HomeAndRanchTeam.com

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A special THANK YOU to our sponsor, OPUS ESCROW! Farm Talk with Paul Ward would not be possible without the support of our sponsor Opus Escrow. Supporting our sponsor ensures Farm Talk can provide listeners with the best possible episodes.

Paul Ward (00:00):

Today on Farm Talk, we’re talking about cultivating mental health. Hi friends. It’s Paul Ward here, and welcome to this episode of Farm Talk. I’m very excited. Today we are talking about a connection between farming and mental health. And who better to talk about it than our special guest today? Jen Rodriguez, the program manager with Growing Works. Jen, welcome to Farm Talk.

Jenn Rodriguez (00:22):

Thank you.

Paul Ward (00:24):

Absolutely. And of course, we wanna thank our sponsor, Opus Escrow. So, Jen, tell us about Growing Works and its connection to the mental health community.

Jenn Rodriguez (00:35):

So, Growing Works is a program of Turning Point Foundation and Turning Point supports adults with mental health challenges, homelessness issues, and substance abuse here in Ventura County. So, we’re one of 14 programs, but we’re the only for-profit business and the only like business-business in that we’re a wholesale nursery and a mental health recovery program. And our slogan is actually, “Cultivating Mental Health. “So that’s what we try to do here.

Paul Ward (01:01):

Very cool. Cultivating mental health. So, who works here? Is it anybody that wants to, is it folks that have mental challenges?

Jenn Rodriguez (01:10):

Yes. It’s kind of the answer to your first question is yes and no. Because we have support employees and we have members who are volunteer corps, and all of those people are referred from Ventura County Behavioral Health. With whom we contract for the recovery program. And then we also have community volunteers. So, you or your neighbor or your wife’s cousin’s aunt could go onto the Turning Point Foundation website and fill out a volunteer form. We meet all of our volunteers ’cause we wanna make sure that Growing Works is always a super safe place in every aspect. You know, we all have that friend or neighbor who wants to tell us how to fix our life. Well, they’re not really welcome here. I keep my people safe and keep Growing Works really, really positive. And so, everybody’s kind of checked to make sure that they’re gonna be a great fit and supportive of our people and of our mission. So yeah, we then we onboard people and they get to work.

Paul Ward (02:07):

And a stigma about mental health that seems to be dissipating a little bit. And who are the folks, I guess clarifying, who are the folks that work here in terms of their mental health challenges and how would they be, I guess benefited, right? Because you’re working with nature.

Jenn Rodriguez (02:29):

Yes.

Paul Ward (02:30):

And which is kind of a peaceful feeling. Right? And the world is stressful.

Jenn Rodriguez (02:36):

Yes. This is a very peaceful environment. You know, we have the backdrop of the Santa Monica Mountains. There’s actually a pack of coyotes that lives in our back 40.

Paul Ward (02:43):

Oh, wow.

Jenn Rodriguez (02:44):

Some people find that scary. Many of us find it fun. There’s a lot of birds here. We have certain snakes. But there’s just a very peaceful vibe and a lot of nature. A couple years ago, I actually found a study about farmers and how they get depressed less than other professions. And I didn’t know anything about farming, you know, that’s kind of wild. And farming’s hard.

Paul Ward (03:03):

It is hard.

Jenn Rodriguez (03:04):

Like today we can’t control the weather. We can’t control the weather on any day. And you just do your best with all these really challenging variables. I think there’s a micro logical aspect. So, fungi and bacteria in the soil actually help as a natural antidepressant.

Paul Ward (03:21):

Interesting.

Jenn Rodriguez (03:21):

That’s a total sidebar. Our people come from referral from Ventura County Behavioral Health. So, they’re all receiving services. They’re also all in a place where they’re really owning their diagnosis. So, when people, the onset, or usually identification of a serious mental health diagnosis is in late teens to early twenties. And often because that kind of evolves over time and people might not have a major psychotic event for years. It can take a long time to get all that kind of dialed in, like properly diagnosed, properly medicated, and on the path to recovery. So, most of our people are kind of a few years down the road, so they’re receiving services. They’re medication compliant. So, they’re on meds and they’ve received a good diagnosis and they’re working at getting to a place in their lives where they’re managing their diagnosis and having life outside of the diagnosis.

Jenn Rodriguez (04:16):

So, they range from twenties to, I have one gentleman who’s excellent, who’s in his sixties. They have all kinds of different diagnoses. We see a lot of people with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, severe depression, anxiety disorders, OCD, eating disorders. So, there’s really a full range. And that actually also speaks to how we treat people as individuals. Not everybody wants to water. Some people wanna drag hose and water and keep the plants alive. Thank you. But that’s not for everybody. Some people don’t have like the physical strength and I water. Usually, I feel it the next day. Like it’s a Tylenol day. Just ’cause it, they’re so heavy. We have one gentleman, the gentleman I spoke with before, who pulls most of our orders. He’s great at it. He loves driving the Gator, which is a little electric vehicle.

Jenn Rodriguez (05:04):

And he also was on the streets for over two decades. As often happens during that time, he was attacked on the streets. Like the living on the streets being homeless is it’s very dangerous. Right. Whether you’re male or female, kind of doesn’t matter. H e’s critical to our business as well, or a team. He has a buddy who also describes being in a cycle of substance abuse and addiction and incarceration. And then he would get clean and sober and kind of, it started all over again. And that was for a number of decades. They’re best buddies. In America, a lot of men aren’t great at having friends. There’s this kind of weird disconnect for American males. Like it’s less okay than, you know, women. It’s okay if women have a lot of friends; they’re so tight and they really set the tone for the group.

Jenn Rodriguez (05:52):

They’re so leading by example in this tight friendship. And they’re really purposeful when we have, we have newbies that kind of bringing them into the fold. And that all works against the isolation that’s so common in mental health. That stigma contributes to, I am a two-time cancer survivor.

Paul Ward (06:08):

Oh, wow.

Jenn Rodriguez (06:09):

I know firsthand, thank you, how isolating any physical illness is. You know, if you have cancer, you kind of drop outta your own life. You might not work, or you might have to go to a lot of doctor’s appointments. And the whole pattern and schedule of your life changes. So, there’s less time to, you know, eat cookies watching TV or hang out with your friends. Mental illness takes that to like 10 more degrees, ’cause now people see you as a freak.

Jenn Rodriguez (06:35):

Or, you know, mentally defective. I think is a common stereotype. And so that leads to isolation. And then people can self-isolate too. ‘Cause If you don’t trust your mind and with schizophrenia in particular, there might be voices in your head. That you don’t know. You can’t discern whether that’s like okay or not. It isolates people even more. So, just socialization and being part of a group is a big part of Growing Works. We’re also super purposeful about celebrating victories and achievements. L week I think we had pizza and salad and ice cream cake and pasta, because last month March was our biggest sales month ever.

Paul Ward (07:16):

Oh wow.

Jenn Rodriguez (07:17):

So, sometimes it might seem a little forced or a little made up, but when you’re working with people who’ve had so many failures, you know, they might have family failure. They may not parent their kids anymore.

Jenn Rodriguez (07:27):

Some are college educated, but many couldn’t make it that far. They might not have even graduated high school. And serious mental illness puts a real strain on families. So, one gentleman after working at Growing Works for a few years was able to get back in contact with his family of origin. But it’s just hard. It’s hard for everybody. So, if we can kind of refill that bank of success in a very corporate but also individual way, it’s all good. You know, it’s all moving people in the right direction. And we all feel good when we’ve won, and we’ve achieved something. And we’re just again, really purposeful about saying whether you delivered the plants on the truck, went on the delivery, or you transplanted the plants or you watered the plants, you made a significant contribution that helped us have that success.

Paul Ward (08:15):

And I would imagine that most folks are part-time. Maybe there’s some couple full-time based on their own capability.

Jenn Rodriguez (08:25):

Yeah. The program runs from 9am to 1pm, Monday through Friday. A couple people have special privileges to work the afternoon too, but people’s hours generally range from 13 hours a week to 20 hours a week. And that’s how the contract with Ventura County Behavioral Health is written and funded as well. So, idea is that people will want to be motivated if they’re able to move on to competitive employment. In our five years of existence, we’ve had over 150 adults participate in Growing Works.

Paul Ward (08:57):

Wow! That’s a lot.

Jenn Rodriguez (08:58):

Yes. And about 30 of them have moved on to competitive employment.

Paul Ward (09:02):

So, when you say, what does that mean? Competitive?

Jenn Rodriguez (09:03):

Well, that means like free market. Like your job and my job.

New Speaker (09:06):

Gotcha.

Jenn Rodriguez (09:06):

Yeah. That’s competitive is just what we call it. Here you’re not competing so much, you’re waiting for a spot to open. 10 have pursued higher education in one way or another. And four have been hired by Turning Point Foundation. So, when you look at our population, like if you or I were depressed or had anxiety, we’d probably go see a psychologist or our family doctor. We might get a med, but we’d probably keep on going to work, ’cause it wouldn’t be severe depression. It’d be comparatively like depression. That’s not who we’re working with here. We’re working with people who have really gotten sidelined by their diagnosis. In December, we hired one young man. This was his first job.

Jenn Rodriguez (09:49):

He’s 28. He’s brilliant. He’s so smart. We all just love him to death. I knew that he’d been abused before. I knew he’d been abused. You know what I mean? Just from his presentation. And so, he got his first paycheck right before Christmas. He was able to buy gifts for his family for the first time with his own earnings. And it’s just a privilege to work here. We work hard. We always work hard, but we get to help people win in a tangible way that’s unlike anything else in any other job I’ve had.

Paul Ward (10:21):

That’s awesome. Now this, we’re here on a special day. What is happening here on the campus or the grounds.

Jenn Rodriguez (10:31):

The grounds. Yeah, I guess.

Paul Ward (10:32):

Right now,

Jenn Rodriguez (10:33):

So, we’re having our Spring Fling. We have two festivals a year. We have Spring Fling and we have the Fall Festival. For that we usually bring in a band. It’s raining today, so the band wasn’t able to come. We have vendors. So there’s a cookie baker and today there’s a bread lady and all kinds of art. Seasonal craftspeople. And we’re open to the public for a retail sale. We’re usually not open to the public because of the whole mental health recovery aspect. We’re covered by our people are covered by HIPAA law. So we protect their identities so

Paul Ward (11:02):

They don’t interact with the public.

Jenn Rodriguez (11:04):

They do on deliveries, but that’s about it. Not everybody chooses to go on deliveries. It’s kind of up to them.

Paul Ward (11:09):

Okay. Are they here today?

Jenn Rodriguez (11:11):

We have a few here today. So, we have eight supported employment positions per contract again. And then we have members and members are volunteers. And to become eligible for supported employment, they have to work 108 hours or volunteer 108 hours. They have to take a class called WRAP, which is Wellness Recovery Action Plan. So, if I have a diagnosis and I can kind of read myself in terms of my symptoms, like maybe I’m not getting outta bed, maybe all I’m eating is Ben and Jerry’s. Maybe I’m not showering regularly. Well I’m not doing okay. So then I can go to my plan that I’ve devised and start taking steps to use coping skills to get me back in a better place. Maybe I call my mom and say I’m not doing okay. Or maybe I don’t call my mom ’cause that would trigger me. You know, that’s individual for person. But if you can make a plan ahead of time before the fact kind of hits the fan, it helps you to kinda walk out of that more easily before you get to the hospitalization point.

Paul Ward (12:07):

Interesting. I’m thinking now about you as the employer and how you’re dealing with these, you know, you’re operating in nursery, right? You’re, it’s a for-profit business. And they can maybe, what, $250,000 last year.

Jenn Rodriguez (12:21):

Yeah, we did a quarter of a million last year.

Paul Ward (12:22):

Which is amazing.

Jenn Rodriguez (12:23):

Thank you.

New Speaker (12:24):

And the grounds are beautiful and there’s lots of people here today buying plants, but now you’re dealing with employees who have these mental health challenges. Not getting outta bed. Eating only Ben and Jerry’s, you know, out in the non-mental health world though, everybody is somewhere on the spectrum, right?

Jenn Rodriguez (12:47):

Yeah.

New Speaker (12:48):

The employer would say, you know, “See ya, you know, you didn’t show up to work and you’ve got to go.” You know, special needs employees. How do you deal with everybody on that spectrum? And so and so didn’t show up or So-and-so’s not doing what they’re supposed to do because of their mental health challenges, not because they’re, you know, lazy.

Jenn Rodriguez (13:07):

So that’s complex. The Americans with Disabilities Act, the ADA, says you have to make reasonable accommodation. We go a number of steps beyond that, which sometimes feels like unreasonable accommodation, but that’s the whole point. That’s supported employment. We are helping, kind of doing wraparound services and helping people and the reality, because we see most of our people more often than their case managers do, we can read people more quickly. So, if Bobby, who doesn’t exist, but Bobby’s not washing his hair, we know about it far long before his case manager does. There was a case a few years ago where we had a woman; and some people are triggered by time of year because of events that have happened. So, we knew that it was a pattern for her to get triggered like in August maybe.

Jenn Rodriguez (13:58):

And we saw that her activities of daily living, so personal hygiene, were sliding. There were other indicators. I was able to reach out to her case manager and she was working on adding services. Well at that point, I’m gonna call her Linda. Linda was really feeling like she was triggered and she wanted to start using meth ’cause she had a history of that.

New Speaker (14:18):

Wow.

Jenn Rodriguez (14:19):

So, Turning Point very appropriately has a no substance abuse policy.

New Speaker (14:25):

Sure.

Jenn Rodriguez (14:26):

So, we were able to work with Linda to get her to quit before she got fired. Well, that doesn’t sound like a win, but Linda was able to go to rehab and then Linda got back and instead of coming back to Growing Works, where she had some physical challenges that made it hard for her to work here, she started volunteering in another Turning Point program and eventually got hired.

Jenn Rodriguez (14:45):

So that’s a good example of kind of how working as a team we’re able to help people to win, even if there’s kind of some hiccups along the way.

New Speaker (14:53):

Right.

Jenn Rodriguez (14:54):

Last week I met with a supportive employee who has an anxiety disorder, which makes it hard for him to leave the house. So, he is chronically late. He actually got a note from his doctor saying he legit has an anxiety disorder and it’s hard for him to leave the house. So, we’re gonna keep on encouraging him to try to get here on time. ‘Cause that’s a great goal.

Paul Ward (15:14):

Right.

Jenn Rodriguez (15:15):

He, we’ll call him Billy. Billy acknowledged that if he had a regular job, he would’ve been toast within two weeks. Like he knows it, right? But he can’t control it. And he is on meds and he is trying and they’re working on adjusting his meds. Billy’s great when he is here. We call him the Plant Whisperer. He has natural ability with plants. He’s got a…

Paul Ward (15:35):

He’s got a green thumb

Jenn Rodriguez (15:36):

<Laugh>, Like green, everything. <Laugh> <laugh>. But yeah, it’s just really hard for him to get here on time.

Paul Ward (15:45):

What is the connection between Growing Works and Turning Point is Growing Works part of Turning Point.

Jenn Rodriguez (15:51):

We’re one of 14 programs. So, a lot of what Turning Point does has to do with housing. We have a veterans transitional living project with, for which we contract with the VA. We have an emergency shelter in Ventura, and we have a number of board and care facilities as well as the wellness center, which is a drop-in center in Oxnard. We’re the odd duck in that we’re a business, but we’re serving the same population. So, we actually do transportation from the wellness center and a lot of the Growing Works folks receive services at the Wellness center as well.

Paul Ward (16:23):

Are the Growing Works employees living in a Turning Point facility or are they living in town?

Jenn Rodriguez (16:30):

It varies. It really depends on the person. Some live with family, some live independently. Some do live in Turning Point facilities. It all depends on the person. We’re on part of 55 acres that were once part of the California, the Camarillo State Mental Hospital and before that the Lewis ranches, like Lewis Road.

Paul Ward (16:52):

Oh wow. And now we’re and that’s now been turned into Cal State

Jenn Rodriguez (16:54):

CSUCI.

Paul Ward (16:55):

Channel Islands.

Jenn Rodriguez (16:56):

Yeah. For which we get students; GO Dolphins! And they’re awesome. The students are great. So, when that land, when the Camarillo State Mental Hospital was shut down, they deeded 55 acres to the county of Ventura with a designation for mental health. So, as you come down South Lewis Road, you hit Casa Pacifica, which is mental health for kids and families. There’s a construction project for housing for seniors. There’s the Red Barn, which I think we’re gonna talk about. There’s Growing Works for kind of this strange white warehouse building. And then there’s three different housing projects. There’s Villa Calleguas, which is apartments for adults with mental health challenges. There’s Hillmont House, which is kind of a higher degree of care. And there’s the Casas de Esperanza. So we get a bunch of people from over there. And then we sometimes get people from Hillmont and then Casas and then they go live elsewhere independently. But they stay at Growing Works for employment.

Paul Ward (17:53):

So, you have other activities throughout the year. You’ve got a sensory garden, you’ve got a California native food event. Tell us about those.

Jenn Rodriguez (18:01):

Right. We are open to the public twice a month. The second and fourth Saturday I’m from 10am to 2pm, always 10am to 2pm.

Paul Ward (18:08):

So if I want plants.

Jenn Rodriguez (18:09):

You can come shop then.

Paul Ward (18:10):

At those specific times.

Jenn Rodriguez (18:12):

Right. The rest of the time we won’t let you in.

Paul Ward (18:13):

Gotcha.

Jenn Rodriguez (18:14):

Like, we’re gonna be nice about it, but we’re still not gonna let you in. And wholesale customers can come in during those times, but because we’re working with this population, we try to get people to call so that we know that they’re coming. We have workshops, that’s where you’re talking about the sensory gardening workshop and edible plants. And those are in conjunction with the retail sales. So, every workshop, every second and fourth Saturday this year, we either have a workshop or a festival. Today being Spring Fling and the Fall Festival happening in October. We do a lot of succulent pumpkins and hearts and wreaths. ‘Cause people love those. They’re fun. And it’s also very therapeutic. We try to make it, you know, not competitive. It’s not like our class in college or high school where they’d be a crit and people would be mean. It’s just you do you and we’re gonna help you do it and give you all the supplies.

Paul Ward (19:02):

Are the employees working on the topiaries? Or is that…?

Jenn Rodriguez (19:06):

No, it’s like I have hired somebody do sometimes one of my assistant managers or I gives the workshops and then we have a number of different experts like Antonio Sanchez. who works for Samo Fund is doing the Edible Plants workshop. He’s a very dynamic speaker. Check that one out. I’m doing the workshop in two weeks about sensory gardening. So, we have a number of different experts coming in to conduct this.

Paul Ward (19:31):

Awesome. So, what does the future have in store for Growing Works?

Jenn Rodriguez (19:35):

Well, I mentioned the barn next door. The barn is the Red Barn. The Red Barn is unoccupied. It’s county owned. This is all county land. And we’re working with the county to develop an arts and crafts and light food service project that would be an extension of Growing Works. So, not everybody has the agility to work or the desire to work out in the elements, you know, with the dirt and the bugs at Growing Works. But it’s well documented that creative activities are therapeutic and really helpful for managing diagnosis and getting stuff out, expressing yourself. We’re also in this weird, another region of Camarillo, the Oxnard plain. They grow celery across the street. But if I live at Casas, the Casas are Villa Calleguas next door. I have to go three miles into Camarillo to buy milk. Or broccoli. There’s no toiletpaper.

Paul Ward (20:27):

There’s no grocery store.

Jenn Rodriguez (20:28):

There’s nothing out here. But tourism and food service are one of the top 10 industries in Ventura County. So, it’d be very appropriate to train our population with those skills where they could go out and get competitive employment and you know, also be able to buy a cookie and coffee in the afternoon after work. Right, right. Because who doesn’t love cookies?

Paul Ward (20:48):

And I also saw you’ve got some pretty big infrastructure going on here. You’ve got a water filtration system. You’ve got big tanks outside that are pumping water from your own well.

Jenn Rodriguez (20:58):

It’s not actually from our own well, it’s from Calleguas. It’s gray water. And runoff water, like the water that’s in your gutters. So, yes, we have a $300,000 DRAMM water system. DRAMM is to water systems, like, I don’t know, like Teslas are to cars. It’s the thing. So, we raised $30,000 last year to finish the water system. So, we’ll take the gray and run off water clean it, filter it, and then be able to water with that water the nursery and we’ll have irrigation. That will take a lot of just the imperfection of hand watering out of that. And we’ll run it off our phones. It’ll be great. And when the Santa Ana’s kick up, you know, we can water four times a day if we need to. ‘Cause we have this huge water supply.

Paul Ward (21:43):

And moisture just sucks right out of the ground and yeah, you gotta start all over again.

Jenn Rodriguez (21:48):

As a farmer, it’s brutal. We have plenty of land in back of the nursery to continue expanding what we grow, including sizes. We’re working on funding a bobcat, that’s our next big piece of equipment so we can move bigger boxes. 15 gallon and 24-inch box plants are really heavy and it’s not safe for people. You can move a 15 gallon with two or three men, but it’d be better to, with a piece of equipment. We should also do other nursery development stuff and use it as a forklift. So, we’re working on that. Right now, we sell from Solvang through about LAX and then the San Gabriel Valley. We work for the business developer. He really wants us to get us into SLO and kind of the south side of LA.

Paul Ward (22:37):

So, you would deliver the plant stuff distance. And I understand that you have a pretty big client down on the coast.

Jenn Rodriguez (22:43):

We do. We sell to The Huntington for their plant sale. We sell to Santa Barbara Botanic Garden. We sell to the county of Ventura. And we’ll be at the County of Ventura’s Earth event. We sell to UCLA’s Botanic Garden and then a number of landscapers and independent nurseries throughout the region.

Paul Ward (23:01):

You’re a for-profit business, but you’re also serving a community in need. Do you get a lot of your funding from, must get some funding from donations or from the county?

Jenn Rodriguez (23:12):

We do. So, we contract with Ventura County Behavioral Health. We’re viewed as a community-based organization. We’re a contractor with VCBH, that’s part of it. And we run two different budgets and then we have the nursery. So, that quarter of a million dollars’ worth of sales last year pays for the nursery program and buys us things like pots and soils and baby plants. ‘Cause we use some of our own propagation and then we pay other nurseries, propagation nurseries to sell as baby plants that we then plant up, you know, to sell in various sizes.

Paul Ward (23:45):

So, for folks that are you know, interested in mental health and helping that community can they get more involved?

Jenn Rodriguez (23:52):

Absolutely. So, on the Turning Point website, there’s a volunteer form that they can fill out that magically appears in my inbox once they fill it out. And then we can talk and get them onboarded.

Paul Ward (24:04):

What is that website?

Jenn Rodriguez (24:05):

It’s turningpointfoundation.org.

Paul Ward (24:08):

Okay. And is there a Growing Works website as well?

Jenn Rodriguez (24:10):

There is. The easiest way to get it is through the Turning Point website.

Paul Ward (24:15):

Gotcha. Yeah. And is there a phone number? Email? That folks can reach out if they wanna come and and buy plants?

Jenn Rodriguez (24:22):

Yes. GrowingWorksSales, all spelled out, @turningpointfoundation.org is a great email address. And our number here at the nursery is 805-586-9900.

Paul Ward (24:35):

Awesome. And you guys have social media too?

Jenn Rodriguez (24:37):

We do. We’re on Instagram at Growing Works tpf and we’re also on Facebook.

Paul Ward (24:42):

How long has Growing Works been around?

Jenn Rodriguez (24:44):

We were a project at Supervisor Linda Parks in 2018 is when we started. We were modeled after a similar nursery in San Luis Obispo County called Growing Grounds. And we’ve been growing and selling pretty much since then. And I came from the landscape maintenance world and started in 2019. So, I was at a point where I needed a job. I knew somebody who worked for Turning Point. She said, “Hey, you should do this.” So, I applied, and I got the job and I’ve been here since 2019.

Paul Ward (25:14):

Congratulations.

Jenn Rodriguez (25:15):

Thank you.

Paul Ward (25:16):

And was the idea of mental health patients working with plants something new? Or was that something that kind of came from another?

Jenn Rodriguez (25:26):

So, there’s a whole field of horticultural therapy that’s often like taking plants into, nobody calls ’em psychiatric hospitals anymore, but into places like that. Or the VA has horticultural therapy. You can get certified and degreed in it more on the East coast than on the West coast. But there’s a national organization of horticultural therapists (American Horticultural Therapy Association, AHTA) The whole nursery model is far less common. There’s Growing Grounds and SLO and there’s us and that’s kind of it for the state of California.

Paul Ward (25:58):

Wow.

Jenn Rodriguez (25:59):

Yeah, we’re interesting. We’re hyper-nichey. We grow 60% California native plants, 30% succulents and 10% cool stuff that we like. ‘Cause nobody tells me what to grow. So, I watch my numbers. We use a lot of QuickBooks and Excel. And we’re at just a really great time in history for California native plants. Southern Californians seem to have caught on that. Drought is a way of life. Your lawn sucks up a lot of water. So, these plants are like naturally acclimated here, play nice with others, don’t use as much or very much water, are pollinators supportive. And so, it’s kind of like the perfect plants for Southern California.

Paul Ward (26:37):

If somebody wanted to redo their yard and get more water wise, ’cause that is a thing, could they reach out to Growing Works for, for help?

Jenn Rodriguez (26:46):

Yes. We actually have a designer’s list for people who we like to work with and who are well qualified and know what they’re talking about. Also, Calleguas gives classes. They’re doing a full series of classes on how to change your irrigations to drip from spray. And then there’s a number and the Master gardeners in Ventura County also are full of resources. We have a lot of good neighbors in this pool. One story about somebody who was really successful. A gentleman came from the Casas next door and he I think he shot up a 7 Eleven.

Paul Ward (27:22):

Wow.

Jenn Rodriguez (27:22):

I don’t really know the details. I don’t know if 7 Eleven made him mad. I don’t think it was even a 7 Eleven per se, but he was angry, clearly anger management issues.

Jenn Rodriguez (27:32):

So, in Ventura County, if you commit a serious crime and you have a mental health diagnosis and an attorney to help you can go to a mental health court instead of the regular courts. Ventura County Behavioral Health and Probation devise a plan to keep you outta jail, but you have to do whatever they say. So he did. And he started taking his classes and doing everything that he was supposed to do at the Casas and anger management classes. I think there were some like alcohol and not driving classes, things like that. And came over as a volunteer to us. And this was a man with a lot of physical strength. He was just really dynamic. We’ll call him Andy. If I needed something like busted down, Andy could do it. He, you know, like, that’s just who he is.

Jenn Rodriguez (28:18):

Right. And one day we could tell that Andy was not doing okay. And so, I was like, “Andy, what’s going on?” Well, his understanding was that probation had said 12 months that he had to be around for 12 months, and Andy wanted to move to another county ’cause his father was failing and he wanted to go care. Well, I think Probation actually said 12 to 18 and he might’ve only heard 12 and now they were saying 18. And he was really struggling with that. So, we sat down in my office, and we started writing letters. So, I wrote a letter on behalf of Andy. “Sam, look, Andy’s been great. Andy’s been a model supported employee. You know, I asked Andy to do something, he does it, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.” So, we had that letter and then we wrote a letter together.

Jenn Rodriguez (28:59):

Same thing. Or I think it was more from Andy’s perspective. “You asked me to do this, I did this. You wanted me to take these meds, I take these meds, you want me to do anger management classes. I’ve done ’em point by point. Five point.” And so, we printed out the letters, multiple copies to give to the judge and we waited and nothing happened. I mean, nothing changed. But Andy changed. ’cause I don’t think anybody had come alongside Andy before and helped him advocate for himself in a really healthy, appropriate way. Speaking truth. But, you know, respectfully. I mean, not shooting up the 7 Eleven. And so, Andy’s gone, like Andy graduated, he completed all the terms of his probation. We lost him as an employee, which we were sad ’cause Andy was awesome. But he moved to the county to take care of his dad.

Paul Ward (29:49):

That’s a great success story.

Jenn Rodriguez (29:50):

Yeah. We still miss Andy. Every once in a while, in a while a project comes up, we’re like, “Andy!” You know?

Paul Ward (29:55):

That’s awesome.

Jenn Rodriguez (29:56):

Yeah. That’s a little hard part of the job seeing people go, but that’s means that they’re succeeding too.

Paul Ward (30:02):

Well, wonderful story. Thank you. So, Jenn Rodriguez with Growing Works, thank you so much for being our guest on this edition of Farm Talk. We’ve loved having you and learning about all that you and your organization does.

Jenn Rodriguez (30:11):

Thank you.

Paul Ward (30:13):

Absolutely. Thanks for being here. And of course, we wanna thank our sponsor, Opus Escrow. And be sure to tune in next time for the next edition of Farm Talk.