Community Mental Health: an experience of regenerating spaces and relationships

Abstract

The work I do, in collaboration with the multidisciplinary team and local associations has an ambitious goal: to assist young people and adults with mental health issues in gardening activities with the objective of promoting a real participation in community life. The educational mission is to gradually dismantle the prejudices that are associated with “crazy” people to this day, starting by overcoming the walls that institutionalize suffering; literally leaving and going out of the local clinics is the pedagogical principle from which to begin to guarantee dignity to lives of fragile people.
The Project “Sal’Orto” started a year ago and today it’s possibile to observe a significative improvement in the partecipants’ relationships’ quality and in their executive functions.
In this article, I recount a transformative educational experience promoted and implemented in collaboration with two fellow educators, Dr. Gianluca Belfiore and Dr. Giada Bonetti and with the coordinator of the “Asso.gio.ca Association”, Nicoletta Musella.