The deputy director of the José Hierro Social Insertion Center, Laura Pérez del Molino, presented this Tuesday, together with the delegate of the Government of Spain in Cantabria, Eugenia Gómez de Diego, the third edition of “Casting Roots”, an intervention project aimed at people with serious mental pathology that is based on the development of a therapeutic garden, incorporates the assisted therapy with animals and includes sessions for the improvement of personal competences.

The initiative was launched in 2023 with the aim of working in natural spaces with people both in third grade and derived from the Service of Penalties and Alternative Measures to Prison Admission who presented serious mental health problems.

In the first phase, the project focused on the recovery of a green area, annexed to the center, to turn it into a therapeutic garden. In the next edition, assisted therapy with animals was incorporated through the association Galgos and Podencos Cantabria and sessions began to be programmed for the improvement of competences in different functional areas.

In 2025, the program also includes the collaboration of Santander Capital Natural, which has begun to intervene with actions such as the installation of wildlife refuges in the garden environment.

The resource will also be available to public and private entities, both health and social, as an accompaniment tool for people with severe mental disorder.

Recognitions

The event, which took place within the framework of the Open Administration Week, was attended by, among other authorities, the deputy director general of Environmental Control of the Government of Cantabria, Gustavo Merino; the councilor for Social Services, Family, Health, Personal Autonomy and Equality of the City of Santander, Zulema Gancedo; the judge of Penitentiary Surveillance of Cantabria, Daniel de Alfonso; and the director of the El Dueso Penitentiary Center, Javier García Bedoya.

The CIS leadership wanted to recognize with two distinctions the entities Galgos and Podencos Cantabria and Santander Capital Natural for their involvement with the development of the program, which has been progressively expanded in recent years.

The presentation of the third edition is part of the events scheduled on the occasion of the Open Administration Week, in which the penitentiaries of León, A Lama (Galicia), Pamplona, Las Palmas II, as well as El Dueso and the CIS José Hierro participate.

Open Administration Week aims to organize events to bring public administrations closer to the citizens.