Therapeutic garden for people suffering from mental illness

Valladolid (EFE).- Valladolid launched this Tuesday a therapeutic garden as part of a European pilot project with the help of the INTRAS Foundation, which already operates in Greece and Germany and which aims to improve people’s well-being throughout the European Union. I want to spread. With mental illness, the elderly or those with cognitive impairment, but also all the people in whose neighborhood they live.

This therapeutic garden, already operating in Palencia, combines nature and the environment with the benefits it brings both physically and mentally and it is hoped that it will be expanded to the other three provinces where Intras operates in the community. Happens: Salamanca, Burgos, Ávila explained Pablo Gómez, director of the foundation.

european project

The European project, The Healing Gardener, is funded by the EU Erasmus+ programme, and has involved around twenty people in its design, construction and implementation over two years, many of whom are users of INTRAS.

One of them is Amador, 53, who has participated in its creation, and for whom this work has served to increase his self-esteem and “forget the stigma of the disease”, in his case schizophrenia.

This space allows the “caregiver” to become the “caregiver” with non-pharmacological treatments that provide social well-being, social interaction, and integration.

Gardening and Greenhouse

The garden, which will also be opened to residents of Valladolid’s Parquesol neighborhood in a few months, is divided into a sensory area, a physical activity area and a horticultural area, and has a greenhouse where its own seeds are grown. Native species of lettuce, onions, garlic or beans from Valladolid, Palencia and Zamora.

The activities designed in this garden will be tailored to suit each individual, working on cognitive skills, exercises to reduce or reduce stress, breathing, increasing flexibility or fine mobility including for example, planting seeds as well as Is included. Creating a community with other people. Residents of the neighborhood briefed the project coordinator, Daria Smolyanska.

And it has received advice from Palmlof Therapeutic Gardens, which already has several gardens in Coslada in Madrid, which has proven that the initiative has an impact on users, since according to a study by the Complutense University it delays an average of two months. it occurs. One of its managers, José María Salas, explained, reduces the entry into dependence and the use of drugs such as anxiolytics.

circular economy

Laura Sánchez, coordinator of the INTRAS labor sector in Valladolid, emphasizes that it is also a circular economy project, since the seeds and garden plants grown will nourish her one-hectare farm in Villamarcial (Valladolid), where they are bottled. . Seven canned products to bring the garden closer to the table.

This garden is located on a plot donated for 75 years by the Valladolid City Council and meets the requirements of being therapeutic with a universal design, safe, guided activities, elements that stimulate the senses, for reflection Leave your home with native and sustainable plants, for space and socialization that invite users, among others. efe