In the project Prescription of Nature, Intervention and research of populations victims of domestic violence, FTHub has been part of the program « Healthy Municipality » of Sant Pere de Ribes which was chosen in the EUROPARC 2020 Yearbook as one of the « inspiring experiences in protected areas ». And this is just the beginning.
Sant Pere de Ribes is a municipality in Catalonia (Spain) with more than 4 km of Garraf Natural Park, a protected natural area. Adhered to the Spanish Network of Healthy Municipalities and in the European Charter for Sustainable Tourism, the city had a Comprehensive Health Plan on Public Health and thus is part of the Healthy City Project to define and promote a new model of municipality that has as key axes health, welfare, sustainability and citizenship in all policies of the territory.
The implementation of Forest Therapy intervention was a first pilot experience of the project that became a stable one, to promote a healthy lifestyle, understanding health not only as the absence of disease but also as maintaining a relationship with our natural environment to prevent future diseases.
As a result of a collaboration agreement between the Diputación de Barcelona and the city council to turn the municipality of Sant Pere de Ribes (Barcelona, Spain) into a « Healthy municipality », Forest Therapy Hub was incorporated to develop the green prescription with Forest Therapy interventions for women victims of domestic violence users of SIAD (Service of information and attention to women), and especially to women who have suffered or suffer economic violence (those on whom their partner or ex-partner exercises total control and manipulation over their economic autonomy).
This project has been so successful that it will be continued in 2022. « I wish I could do more Forest Bathing walks because it has been very good for me, » was one of the testimonials. « Nature helps me to relax, to organize my things better« , « The sound of the birds for me is freedom« , or « I am that tree that even in bad weather blooms« .
This project ‘Ecosystem services for the well-being of people in Sant Pere de Ribes‘ was chosen as one of the « inspiring experiences in protected areas » in the EUROPARC 2020 Yearbook, supported by the Ministry of Ecological Transition and the Biodiversity Foundation.
You can learn more about this project in the Webinars, Seminars and Conferences section of Walk the Talk Talks by FTHub.