Santa Lucia Dianova therapeutic center (Madrid region, Spain) implemented a new recycling workshop dedicated to educate young people about sustainable development, a field which is deemed essential for Dianova.Tatiana Toledo, an education assistant who supervises the project, stresses “the importance of educating residents and staff about the importance of recycling and reusing any type of product, equipment, or waste material of any kind in the management of the center’s daily activities.
From a therapeutic standpoint, the activity will focus on establishing new objectives with-and-for the residents in order to develop their creativity and self-esteem, and their sense of responsibility toward society as a whole. Such work will complement the work done by the Social Theatre Workshop, which, for several months, has been engaged in similar objectives, while encouraging the residents of the therapeutic community to create their own costumes and staging, especially from previously cast-off materials.
The “Recycling Difference” workshop, which is implemented in collaboration with Ecoembes, will help recycle packaging waste produced daily, and raise awareness of the need to preserve raw materials and energy, with the objective of helping to preserve the center’s natural environment in the heart of the Vega del Tajuña region, explained Tatiana.
After a preliminary training offered by Ecoembes, the staff of Santa Lucia incorporates the workshop into Dianova’s regular therapeutic and educational program. The workshop consists of both theoretical and a practical parts. The first one teaches the residents about the process of recycling the various materials used in the center in their daily lives, and how they should be sorted for optimal recycling.
According to educators, the practical part will be the most positive from a therapeutic standpoint. “Residents will learn not only to create decorative items from waste, but they will also come to realize that they have the ability to reinvent, to spend time on something productive, to practice what they have learned” stressed Tatiana.
The workshop will be overseen by Dianova’s interdisciplinary team, consisting of psychologists, educators, education assistants, social workers, physicians and paramedics. It is also designed to be incorporated into the programs of the otherDianova centers in Spain within the next few months.