The organisation, a beneficiary partner of the European ALIS project (Local Adventure for Social Innovation), gave a talk on mental health improvement programmes for vulnerable groups in nature
Valencia, 16 June 2026. Terapia Aventura, a beneficiary partner of the ALIS project (Local Adventure for Social Innovation), co-funded by the Interreg Sudoe programme, took part this Tuesday in the Campus Diversia Summer School: Nature and Inclusion, organised by the University Culture Service of the Universitat de València, where it shared its experience and working methodology using the ALIS project as an illustrative case.
The talk, titled “Mental Health Improvement Programmes with Vulnerable Groups in Nature,” addressed how to detect and respond to the mental health needs of vulnerable groups through connection with the natural environment and experiential learning — principles that also guide the development of ALIS interventions across its different territorial pilots.
During the session, the Terapia Aventura team highlighted the importance of “connecting” as the first step in identifying real needs before designing any intervention, stressing that only direct experience — not mere information — leads to meaningful, lasting learning. To illustrate these concepts, the organisation presented images and examples from its own projects, including ALIS, as a practical reference for intervention with vulnerable groups in nature.
About the Campus Diversia Summer School
The Campus Diversia Summer School: Nature and Inclusion, organised by the Universitat de València with the support of the Amica Association, offers students a space for reflection on the intersection of inclusion, nature and sustainability through experiential practices outside the classroom. The programme runs over three days, between the Campus Diversia in Yátova, the Faculty of Philosophy and Educational Sciences, and the Botanical Garden, aiming to equip students with the tools to act as genuine catalysts for social change, linking functional diversity with development strategies such as green employment, rural land regeneration and the circular economy.
About the ALIS project
ALIS (Local Adventure for Social Innovation) is a European project funded by the Interreg Sudoe programme, running for 36 months (June 2025 – May 2028) with a total budget of €1,125,000. ALIS aims to boost the employability of young people in rural and peri-urban areas at risk of exclusion, through experiential social innovation programmes based on outdoor/nature sports, recognised as tools for social integration, personal development and wellbeing. The transnational consortium is led by the Centre de Ressources, d’Expertise et de Performance Sportives Montpellier/Font-Romeu (France), and also includes the Association for Second Chance Education (Portugal), the Centre de Ressources Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes (France), the Andalusian Youth Institute (Spain), the Finnova Foundation (Spain), the Sport To Live Association (Spain), Terapia Aventura (Spain), the University of the Balearic Islands (Spain), the University of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro (Portugal), and the Government of Andorra – State Secretariat for Youth and Sports.