Unanimous green light from the Regional Council. With an additional allocation of 250 thousand euros, the costs of insurance, custody and maintenance of gardens for therapeutic purposes will be supported. A minority agenda was also approved which calls for the expansion of the financial allocation of the law.
17 APR – With the amendment of law n°18 of 2015 “Provisions regarding educational, urban and collective gardens”, the Lombardy Regional Council approved the introduction of the category of rehabilitation-therapeutic gardens in the same law. Therapeutic gardens may be created on land belonging to public bodies (municipalities, schools, hospitals, penal institutions, etc.) and social welfare entities that deal with disadvantaged or fragile categories (elderly, disabled, etc.).
Following the expansion of the range of possible beneficiaries, the financial allocation of the law currently in force is increased from 150 thousand to 400 thousand euros, again from the funds of the General Directorate of Agriculture.
“Horticultural therapy – recalls a note from the Regional Council – is a non-conventional complementary therapy which works alongside traditional ones and is defined internationally as a ‘rehabilitative practice which involves the patient’s involvement in horticultural activities with the assistance of a trained therapist and in order to achieve specific therapeutic objectives on both a physical and psychological level. The first to observe the multiple beneficial effects of horticultural and gardening practices on patients was the father of American psychiatry Benjamin Rush. Since then the practice has spread throughout the world.”
The advantages observed in patients are multiple: contrast to stress and depression without or with reduced use of psychotropic drugs, stimulation of motor skills, increase in learning ability, natural contrast to the decline of cognitive faculties in elderly people, increase in self-esteem and socialization .
Two agendas were also approved: one from the minority which hopes for the expansion of the financial allocation of the law and one from the majority tending to involve third sector associations in the management of horticultural spaces.
April 17, 2024
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