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A vast empowerment program for 11-24 year olds carried out in the United Kingdom praises the merits of nature restoration projects on mental health. According to the report, the experience would have improved the confidence and self-esteem and reinforced the ecological commitment of the young people who participated in the program.
Restoring a vandalized cemetery, collecting food surpluses from farms and preparing meals for the communities… Here are the types of projects offered by the associative program Our Bright Future, deployed in the United Kingdom by the learned society Royal Society and in which 128,495 young people aged 11 to 24 took part. A total of 31 nature restoration and/or community integration projects made up the program, over a period between 2016 and 2021.
“The projects’ activities aimed to involve young people in practical environmental conservation, to engage them in vocational training and work experience, but also to help them develop their own social action campaigns on environmental issues. and support them to create their own sustainable businesses”, specify the organizers of the program.
And the experience seems to have paid off. According to the program evaluation report written by members of the Economic Research Service and Collingwood Environmental, almost all participants (95%) believe their self-confidence has improved, while 81% believe they can “make a difference to the environment”.
“This finding was particularly important for youth facing multiple challenges,” the report’s authors argue. “Inclusion in the program contributed significantly to the improvement of their well-being, for example by improving their ability to manage their feelings, to feel more relaxed and/or to reduce their eco-anxiety“. “Being in an environment that supports me and where I bring positive change has really helped me grow and learn”, testifies for example Jade, who participated in the program.
The benefits of nature on mental health are increasingly studied and confirmed by science: research published in December 2021 in the journal Scientific Reports in particular demonstrated that regular “nature baths” were effective in combating loneliness. American researchers have also come to the conclusion that the fact of spend at least ten minutes in nature relieved the stress and anxiety felt by young people between the ages of 15 and 30. Published in February 2020, their study is based on the analysis of 14 studies carried out in the United States, Sweden and Japan over the past few years.