About Us
Increasing Access to Mental Health Care
The Planted Brain, Inc. is a Los Angeles-based 501(c)3 nonprofit redefining what mental health care can look like — accessible, trauma-informed, culturally rooted, and grounded in the healing power of nature.
Founded by David S. Washington, LCSW — a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, UC-certified Master Gardener, and Certified Therapeutic Horticulture practitioner with over 15 years of clinical experience — The Planted Brain was built on a simple but radical belief: healing doesn't only happen in clinical settings. It happens in gardens, in circles, in community.
We serve historically marginalized and under-resourced communities across Southern California through therapeutic horticulture workshops, trauma-informed support groups, individual and family therapy, and professional development training. Our work reaches trauma survivors, individuals with severe mental illness, women experiencing homelessness, wildfire survivors, nonprofit employees, and communities that have been systematically excluded from both green spaces and quality mental health care.
Our programming is evidence-informed, culturally responsive, and designed to meet people where they are. We use plants, soil, and the natural world as vehicles for nervous system regulation, emotional healing, and community connection — because nature doesn't discriminate, and neither do we.
Current initiatives include an active trauma-informed support group for 2025 Eaton and Palisades wildfire survivors in partnership with Jericho Road of Pasadena, a therapeutic horticulture workshop series launching summer 2026, and an NASW-CA approved CEU training program for licensed mental health clinicians.
Our vision is a permanent therapeutic horticulture center in Southern California — a sanctuary where healing, nature, and community take root together, and a national model for equitable, nature-based mental health care.
We are actively seeking community partners, clinical collaborators, and funding partnerships.
