The Social Insertion Center ‘José Hierro’ has launched the mental health project “Taking roots”, in which inmates with mental illness will create an ecological garden, thanks to the collaboration of the Parks and Gardens service of the City of Santander, and will take care of dogs from the Galgo and Podencos Association.
“This type of project has a positive impact on people with mental health problems: on the one hand, moderate physical activity is carried out in contact with nature and, on the other hand, a link is established with animals whose therapeutic effects in many areas are well proven, one of them being that of mental health.”
The cultivation process itself (preparing the land, planting and planting, irrigating and harvesting the fruits), explains at the center, contributes to the improvement of self-esteem and makes the person a participant in the process, increasing his motivation and involvement in the activity and being co-responsible for its advances. In addition, skills such as time, stress and anxiety management, as well as medium- and long-term planning are worked on and modelled.
The project aims to generate a natural social interaction in an environment where each participant is a co-protagonist of the process. The participants in the garden and care of the canines are interns who come from the Bridge and Extended Bridge treatment intervention programs that are carried out in the Santanderino CIS.