ISPA Account
Inspiring from other sectors
“[Victoria] Sweet’s book God’s Hotel: A Doctor, a Hospital and a Pilgrimage to the Heart of Medicine explains how, after reading about the medieval healer Hildegard of Bingen, she came to the conclusion that, to better describe the aims of recovery, we should resurrect Hildegard’s medieval concept of viriditas, or “greening” – to be healed is to be reinvigorated by the same force that gives life to trees as much as it does human beings. She, too, observed that the work of the physician is much more like that of a gardener than it is like a mechanic." This connects with the idea of OFE Engineers who guide the unique change process on farms. Rather than it being a purely reductionist engineering process, it also points to ‘problem-finding’ using indigenous, tacit, and scientific knowledge, as opposed to problem solving with pre-defined perspectives on the solutions. Article in The Guardian available here.