The NATURELAB Project has been launched with a special ceremony in Lisbon, Portugal, with UE Project Officer Patrizia Tenerelli explaining the Horizon program in which the project takes part. Besides FTHub Alex Gesse, Carlo Bifulco, and Marta Ayats, there were also there online FTHub Professors and Lecturers Nevin Harper (School of Child and Youth Care, University of Victoria, Canada) and Eliseth Leão (Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein, Brazil), as members of the International Collaborative Board for NATURELAB project.
FTHub’s specific work package, WP2, consists in designing, implementing and validating nature-based therapeutic programs adapted to populations or groups with specific health conditions or needs to support them to substantially enhance those ailments.
The project deploys the FTHub Method and the Liquid Interactions Model for Forest Bathing and Forest Therapy and it implies training 600 professionals.
The nature and forest-based programmes are based on the most recent state-of-the-art methodology and on the expertise from the Forest Therapy Hub, as well as the Peruvian partners’ in Therapeutic horticulture.
There will be approximately 4000 participants engaged in the programs in 15 specific places of different locations in Peru, Netherlands, Germany, Portugal and Greece.
The final result will consist in Standardized Intervention Programs adapted by groups of participants and characteristics of the therapeutic green spaces.
The implications
The Forest Therapy Hub has been funded by the Horizon Action Grant Budget-based, the European Union’s flagship Research and Innovation programme, part of the EU-long-term Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) with a total budget of €95,5bn. Naturelab has received the maximum qualification (15/15).
NATURELAB contributes to increased recognition, promotion and use of green and blue spaces as health care providers, by investigating the benefits of nature-based therapies tailored to populations with different needs to promote well-being and support health prevention & rehabilitation. The project also involves the fulfillment of representative samples of gender, age and socioeconomic status in each organization and the project itself.
The NATURELAB project consortium is formed by 13 entities which includes research centers, universities, hospitals, municipalities, NGOs and private companies from Portugal, Netherlands, Germany, Greece, Peru and the United Kingdom.
FTHub is leading the work package “Design, implementation and validation of nature-based therapies”, regarding nature-based therapeutic programmes for participants in different geographical locations and health conditions.
NATURELAB was funded with about 6 million Euros (6.5 million dollars).
