Eco-therapy for people with substance abuse disorders
Eco-Therapy is a two-year Erasmus+ project that aims to equip and enhance the skills of professionals to better support people with addiction problems by introducing an innovative approach of Eco-Therapy in vocational training institutions and treatment centres.
Substance abuse is one of the biggest challenges EU societies are facing. According to WHO, per capita alcohol consumption in the European Union is the highest in the world. Eco-therapy is a formal type of therapeutic treatment, which involves doing outdoor activities in nature (e.g. gardening, physical activity in nature, cycling, etc.). Its benefits can have a tremendous impact in the rehabilitation process of people suffering from substance abuse disorders. Despite the research done in the field of eco-therapy and its positive impact on health disorders, this method is still not utilized in the field of substance abuse disorders in Europe.
The project aims at developing educational material and interactive training resources for training and therapy centres, trainers and counsellors in the field of Eco-Therapy. More concretely, the project will develop:
- A guide for vocational training institutions and therapy centres describing the benefits and best practices for the use of Eco-Therapy and providing practical guidelines for the delivery of vocational training courses on Eco-Therapy
- An Eco-Therapy curriculum and Open Educational Resources introducing the topic to drug and alcohol abuse counsellors to enable them to implement Eco-Therapy sessions in their everyday work
- An Eco-Therapy digital toolkit for VET trainers with exercises, methodology and training material, to implement such courses.
- A MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) to make available the training to a large number of interested professionals
The project partnership is led by BUPNET, and consists of partners with complementary experience and skills in the field of VET and health education from Denmark, Greece, Portugal and Spain.
Project website: http://ecotherapy.bupnet.eu/