The UE-funded NATURELAB project is entering a defining phase, as the large-scale training program led by FTHub begins preparing the professionals who will deliver nature-based interventions across multiple countries. With a unified methodology and a shared framework, the training cycle is building the core capacity needed for consistent, evidence-aligned implementation throughout all Experiential Sites.
This capacity-building component is central to the NATURELAB project. In different phases, a total of 600 professionals will be trained until the end of 2026, and the interventions they lead will reach around 4,000 participants across 15 locations. The model combines FTHub’s methodologies with contributions from Peruvian partners in Therapeutic Horticulture, ensuring both rigor and adaptability.
NATURELAB is a European Union–funded initiative dedicated to developing, standardizing and implementing Nature-Based Therapies across diverse health contexts. The project brings together a consortium of leading institutions from Europe and Latin America, combining expertise in clinical research, public health, therapeutic horticulture and nature-based methodologies. Through coordinated work across its Experiential Sites, NATURELAB aims to establish a coherent framework that supports innovation, comparability and long-term integration of nature-based interventions within health and social care systems.
The NATURELAB training program designed by FTHub is now fully underway. The online cycle, which began in October and runs until March with live classes, is preparing facilitators who will later guide Forest Bathing and Forest Therapy interventions using the NATURELAB Approach. This training is the foundation that will enable each Experiential Site to implement its intervention according to its target population and landscape, aligned with the FTHub 5 Components of Nature-based Interventions.
In this first action about 80 Facilitators from all Experiential Sites—Peru, Germany, Portugal, Greece, the Netherlands and others—are participating in this cycle. Each site brings different needs and conditions; the program equips trainees with the skills and methodological tools required to design and lead interventions that respond to those specific contexts. In several locations, more than one facilitator is being trained to ensure continuity and local capacity.
These online sessions will be followed by in-person training phases: Portugal in February and Peru in March, where facilitators will refine their competencies directly in the field.
NATURELAB partners’ last meeting in Amsterdam, which included the International Workshop hosted by Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, was a pivotal moment in this phase of the project, revealing how closely the teams are now working together as the training advances and the implementation of Nature-Based Therapies moves toward practice within European and global public health strategies.
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