It is proven that being in direct contact with the nature,doing things with our own hands has a positive physical and mental impact on all of us, but specially on those living with mental illness. Regrettably, we have lost our connection with the earth, we have forgotten that we are all a community and it is urgent that all of us learn it again, including people with ALL abilities. Europe needs a mind change; we have to be aware about the risks of exploiting the land as we have been doing until now. Another approach is feasible and a change needs to be done if we want to slow down the degeneration of our planet. PERMIND faces this issue through the permaculture philosophy that promotes the care and respect towards the natural cycles of the nature as well as towards the people living around. Respect is what people with mental problems ask for, respect and a chance to show what they are able to do. PERMIND arrives to give to people with psychic discomfort an opportunity to show the rest of the European society that we are all a community. No matter which difficulties you have to overcome, as a member of this community we are all responsible of taking care of the earth we inhabit. PERMIND is an innovative eLearning platform addressed to the professionals working for people with severe and prolonged mental problems to learn how to create a therapeutic garden following the principles of the permaculture and how to take advantage of its processes to foster the development of transversal competencies useful for social and labour integration of people with mental condition. The PERMIND platform includes free teaching contents adapted to the special needs of the target group: didactic units (curriculum and methodology), tutorial videos, forums, tips, success stories, etc. The PERMIND platform and its teaching contents will be tested during one year in five different pilot experiences in Spain, Slovenia, Greece and Sweden with a total number of 50-75 people with mental illness. During this training period, the participants will be in charge of feeding the PERMIND mobile application with practical tips, videos, photos, sharing of experiences, etc., thus being the students' booklet of the XXI century that will allow bringing PERMIND with you wherever you are. Moreover, the application has been thought to allow the PERMIND participants to interact with the nearest community by collecting their organic wastes to fertilize the PERMIND’s gardens and selling the neighbors ecological and sustainable vegetables. All these activities pursue the improvement or acquisition of transversal competencies like: communication, creativity, responsibility, active participation, team work, resilience, digital abilities, organization, etc. After the pilots, feedback from the participants and the professionals working with them will be gathered and the PERMIND platform will be improved in accordance with it. The innovative methodology followed is based on learning by doing (to ensure concentration, interest and involvement) as well as on the co-production principles, where the user/client plays a major and active role in their recovery process. Giving voice to the participants in the training course is a powerful empowerment tool that can be used not only in this training on eco-therapy but also in other training initiatives. We want to provide people with psychic discomfort not only with knowledge and practical work, but also with the possibility of make a living in the future with their own work. PERMIND aims to promote the entrepreneurship spirit of the trainees by promoting the creation of ecological social cooperatives. A virtual European mix cooperative will be created to support and guide the establishment of local cooperatives able to sell ecological vegetables of own production and thus making the initiative sustainable in the long term. Integration is a two-way work, we can prepare vulnerable groups to enter or re-enter the society but a great effort must be done to make general society aware about the mental illness to normalize the situation. That is the reason of the intensive dissemination campaign that accompanies PERMIND. We want to show everybody the benefits of the permaculture and of the lifelong learning, putting a strong emphasis on policy makers (to influence on European policies) and on children, as they are the next generation. Promotional events and schools visits to the therapeutic gardens will be organized, during which PERMIND team will explain the students what a mental illness is, encouraging the acceptancy of people with psychic discomfort and, if that is the case, enabling the early detection of any of the symptoms and the request for help. PERMIND is a unique opportunity to change, to re-think about our environment, about the people around us, about our own competencies. PERMIND opens a door to new relationships and perspectives in a constructive, sustainable and creative way, please come in!
CONTEXT It is proven that being in direct contact with the nature,doing things with our own hands has a positive physical and mental impact on all of us, but specially on those living with mental illness. Regrettably, we have lost our connection with the earth, we have forgotten that we are all a community and it is urgent that all of us learn it again, including people with ALL abilities. Europe needs a mind change; we have to be aware about the risks of exploiting the land as we have been doing until now. Another approach is feasible and a change needs to be done if we want to slow down the degeneration of our planet. PERMIND faces this issue through the permaculture philosophy that promotes the care and respect towards the natural cycles of the nature as well as towards the people living around. Respect is what people with mental problems ask for, respect and a chance to show what they are able to do. PERMIND arrives to give to people with psychic discomfort an opportunity to show the rest of the European society that we are all a community. No matter which difficulties you have to overcome, as a member of this community we are all responsible of taking care of the earth we inhabit. OBJECTIVE Providing high quality training in permaculture for people with mental health issues to create sustainable slow growing communities in order to: -Improve their welbeing, - Increase their knowledge, key competencies and work opportunities - Fight against the stigma and stereotypes related to mental illness, approaching people with mental illness to their neighborhood. TARGET GROUP: 72 people with mental health challenges DESCRIPTION PERMIND is an innovative eLearning platform addressed to the professionals working for people with severe and prolonged mental problems to learn how to create a therapeutic garden following the principles of the permaculture and how to take advantage of its processes to foster the development of transversal competencies useful for social and labour integration of people with mental condition. The PERMIND platform includes free teaching contents adapted to the special needs of the target group: didactic units (curriculum and methodology), tutorial videos, success stories, and tips for creating a social mix cooperative. PERMIND teaching contents are also available in a mobile app, perfect to be used during the gardening activity. ACTIVITIES - TRAINING OF TRAINERS: Trainers have been trained in Tenerife by the ADP (partner expert in permaculture) - TECHNICAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE eLEARNING PLATFORM. - DEVELOPMENT OF THE PERMACULTURE CURRICULUM: Development of the teaching units about permaculture using a methodology that improves the social skills and transversal abilities of the trainee - PEDAGOGY TEST IN ALL PARTNERS' COUNTRIES: The PERMIND platform and its teaching contents has been tested during one year in five different pilot experiences in Spain, Slovenia, Greece and Sweden with a total number of 72 people with mental illness. The learning by doing methodology used (to ensure concentration, interest and involvement) as well as on the co-production principles, where the user/client plays a major and active role in their recovery process. Giving voice to the participants in the training course is a powerful empowerment tool that can be used not only in this training on eco-therapy but also in other training initiatives. - FOCUS GROUPS AFTER THE PEDAGOGY TEST: Once the pilot experiences were finished, each national group has implemented several focus group to check the strong and weak points of the course, their fedback has been used to improve and amend the curriculum based on their experience - CASE STUDY DESCRIPTION.: A collection of sucess stories have been identified to serve as inspiration for other people and organizations. These case studies are published in the eLearning platform. - EVALUATION OF THE SOCIAL CHANGE: 4 surveys have been performed to measure the impact in the closer communities. - CREATION OF THE PERMIND LEARNING APP: The course is also available in a mobile app, that has been fed with practical videos by trainees during the training. RESULTS AND IMPACT 1- In the participants a) Therapy: All of them, and also people closer to them, admit to feel better after the practice of permaculture, they are more relax with better mood and more optimistics. b) Social relations and skills: participants have stablished or strengthen frienships with their peers. c) They have increased their practical knowledge and developed competences as social and communicative skills, decission making, problem solving, innitiative, etc. 2-In the organizations, the project has become a permanent line of work, involving different departments. 3- In the neighbourhood: the project has promoted the inclusion of the participants in the surrounding neighbourhood and a change in the image of mental health. Moreover neighbors have also learnt and get interest about permaculture.