The mental health can benefit from the therapies healthcare based on nature? A new scientific project led by the Institute of Environmental Sciences and Technology of the Autonomous University of Barcelona (ICTA-UAB) will investigate how this species therapiesconsisting of the frequent exposure to natural green spacescould be integrated into government policy health and nature promotion To improve mental health of the population and reducing inequalities in the treatment of these pathologies.
Over the next four years the GreenME project will revolutionize the understanding of mental health equity across Europe. To do this, it will have 19 partners from countries such as Spain, Italy, the United Kingdom, the United States, Poland, Sweden, Germany and Belgium, and funding of almost €6 million from the Horizon Europe research and innovation program the European Union. .
To start the project, more than sixty members of the consortium recently met in Barcelona. The scientific community, therapy providers and municipal representatives worked together to address the challenges of the project.
“It is necessary to deepen the evidence that the Therapies based on contact with nature benefit mental health and well-beingand one of our basic principles is to train the different agents who are interested in how Contact with nature benefits people’s health (in English, green care), and who participate in the configuration of sustainable healthcare solutions“, indicates Helen Cole, ICTA-UAB researcher and one of the scientific coordinators of the GreenME project.
«This project will demonstrate the close relationship between the different levels of green care and equity mental healthmaking it possible to translate this knowledge into real and effective policies,” said Margarita Triguero-Mas, researcher at the UOC and ISGlobal and scientific coordinator of the project together with Dr. Cole.
The close interaction between the mental health, green care and environmental justice (including social-ecological inequalities). As part of this, they will analyze the effectiveness of nature-based healthcare interventions. The nature-based therapies range from horticulture, forest bathing (the Japanese shirin-yoku) to any activity carried out in contact with nature. nature and that is specifically intended as therapy, to promote the care of a disease or the improvement of personal well-being. The project will also policies that currently promote mental health equity and environmental sustainability.
In addition to the nature-based therapiesresearchers recognize two other species green caresuch as the contact with nature in everyday life (for example the existence of green and blue infrastructure for thinking and walking) or the promotion of nature-based health (that of active interaction with greenery, such as gardening and nature conservation ).
“We want this project to play a crucial role in shaping healthy, fair, climate-resilient and sustainable communities,” says Dr. Cole. Therefore, the GreenME project would like our understanding of how to contact nature benefits our healthguarantee fair access to nature-based therapies and champions the cause of a healthier planet for all.
Led by ICTA-UAB, the consorcio GreenME “Advancing green care in Europe: an integrated multi-scalar approach for expanding nature-based therapies to improve equity in mental health care” It is integrated by the University of Bologna (Italy), the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (Sveriges Lantbruksuniversitet, Uppsala, Sweden), Research Institute for Regional and Urban Development (ILS Research, Dortmund, Germany), Warsaw University of Life Sciences (SGGW, Warsaw, Poland), Universitat Oberta de Barcelona (UOC, Barcelona), OldContinent (Brussels, Belgium), NeuroLandscape Foundation (Warsaw, Poland), Gesellschaft für Gartenbau und Therapie (GGuT, Hückeswagen, Germany), Institute of Psychiatry and Neurology (IPIN, Warsaw , Poland), Scandinavian Institute for Nature and Forest Therapy & SHINRIN-YOKU (Stockholm, Sweden), Eta Beta Cooperativa Sociale (Bologna, Italy), City of Herne (Herne, Germany), Spanish Association for Horticulture and Social Gardening and Therapeutics (AEHJST , Madrid), University of Kent (United Kingdom), University of Salford (United Kingdom), Social Farms and Gardens (Bristol, United Kingdom), Mind in Bexley and East Kent LTD (London, United Kingdom) and University of Oregon Health and Science – Portland State University (OHSU-PSU, Oregon, USA).