About GreenME

GreenME is a Horizon Europe project that aims to identify ways in which effective nature-based therapy and a broader green care framework can be scaled-up to improve adult mental health and wellbeing equity while contributing to multiple socio-ecological co-benefits. We define green care as a three-scale continuum from nature-in-everyday-life (e.g., the existence of green and blue infrastructure for viewing and walks) to nature-based health promotion (the promotion of active interaction with nature such as gardening and conservation) to nature-based therapy (the provision of treatment for individual patients). 

GreenME is implementing three phases:

  1. Assess the current situation of green care
  2. Produce new robust evidence understand how different aspects of green care relate to mental health and wellbeing equity in various settings
  3. Develop co-created tools with green care providers to expand green care services. GreenME consortium parters are located in Spain, Italy, Germany, Sweden, Poland, the UK, Belgium and the US.

GreenME Objectives

  1. Understand the current state of nature-based therapy and green care in seven study countries (Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain, Sweden, the UK, and the USA), including existing organisational and financial models, and opportunities and barriers for equitable access to green care in Europe.
  2. Produce stronger evidence on how and to what degree specific nature-based therapies in urban, semi- urban, rural, and coastal areas benefit mental health and wellbeing.
  3. Increased evidence on the relationship between exposure to nature-in-everyday-life and nature-based health promotion and mental health and wellbeing equity in study countries.
  4. Empowerment of green care actors and optimisation of partnerships among them to ensure the scaling-up of green care and its integration in healthcare systems to promote mental health and wellbeing equity.
  5. Outreach and exploitation of GreenME results.

GreenME Methods

  • Stakeholder interviews and grey literature analysis to assess the status of green care in our study areas
  • Co-created modified randomized control trial methodology to evaluate the effectiveness of nature-based therapies for improving adult mental health and wellbeing
  • Socioecological analyses of data from green space audits and a population level survey implemented in all study areas to assess the relationship between nature-in-everyday life and nature-based health promotion and adult mental health and wellbeing
  • Participatory co-creation methodologies to produce country-specific guidelines for scaling up green care in each study country and its ingetragtion in health systems
  • The creation of a green care network and a series of online learning resources based on study results to empower green care actors across the EU and facilitate the scaling up of green care

Potential Barriers

  • Lower than expected participation in our data collection efforts for our population surveys and modified randomized control trials, thus limiting our ability to produce meaningful results.
  • Competing priorities preventing active participation in co-creation methods to develop country-specific guildelines.

 

Funding

Horizon Europe Grant Agreement No. 101084198 and funding from UK Research and Innovation (UKRI)