Valladolid (EFE).- Valladolid opened a therapeutic garden on Tuesday with the help of Intras Foundationwithin a European pilot project already operating in Greece and Germany and seeking to expand throughout the European Union to improve the well-being of people with mental illness, the elderly or those with cognitive impairment, but also the well-being of all those living in the neighborhoods in which it is settled.
This therapeutic garden, which follows the one already operating in Valencia, connects nature and the environment with the benefits that this brings physically and mentally, and is expected to extend to the other three provinces in which INTRAS operates in the community: Salamanca, Burgos, explained Avila, Foundation Director Pablo Gomez.
European project
The European project, Healing Gardener, is funded by the EU Erasmus+ programme, and over two years its design, construction and implementation involved around twenty people, many of them users of INTRAS itself.
One of them was Amador, 53, who participated in its construction, and for whom this work helped raise his self-esteem and “forget the stigma of the disease,” in his case schizophrenia.
This space allows the “carer” to become a “carer” with non-pharmacological treatments that provide social well-being, social interaction and integration.
Gardening and greenhouse
The garden, which will also be opened in a few months to the residents of the Barquesol neighborhood of Valladolid, is divided into a sensory area, a physical activity area and a horticultural area, and contains a greenhouse in which it grows its own seeds, of local species of lettuce, onions, garlic and beans from Valladolid, Valencia and Zamora.
The activities that will be designed in this garden will be tailored to suit each individual, working on cognitive skills, exercise to slow down or release stress, breathing, increasing flexibility or fine movement that involves, for example, planting seeds and at the same time creating a community with Others, details from neighborhood residents, project coordinator, Daria Smolyanska.
She took advice from Palmlöf Therapeutic Gardens, which already has several gardens in Coslada, in Madrid, which demonstrated the impact of this initiative on users, because according to a study by Complutense University, it is delayed by two months on average. Enter into dependency and reduce the use of medications such as anxiolytics, as explained by one of its directors, José María Salas.
Circular economy
Coordinator of the INTRAS Action Area in Valladolid, Laura Sanchez, emphasized that it is also a circular economy project, as the planted seeds and seedlings of the garden will feed her one-hectare farm in Villamarcel (Valladolid), where up to seven canned products are packed to bring the garden closer to Table.
The garden is located on a plot of land donated by the Valladolid City Council for 75 years and meets the requirements to be therapeutic with a universal and safe design with guided activities, elements that stimulate the senses, spaces for contemplation and socialization, which invite users to leave their homes and with local and sustainable plants, among others. Evie
