Grape harvesting in a specific natural and social environment can produce a “therapeutic landscape of the mind”Research supports the use of different horticultural landscapes and practices for therapeutic purposes. Viticultural (winegrowing) landscapes, however, have generally not been included in that line of research. This study explored the therapeutic potential of viticultural landscapes for young people with ill mental health and proposed a novel framework for doing so. The development of this framework included an exploration into how the youths’ experience of the natural and social environment of the viticultural landscape could produce a “therapeutic landscape of the mind.”
This study was conducted in Italy with 12 young people (age 18-25) participating. The mental health issues experienced by the participants related more to social anxiety, low self-efficacy, and poor social skills than distinct psychiatric disorders or an acute psychopathological state. Twice a week over a period of five weeks, the participating youth manually assisted in harvesting grapes. Each participant was paired with an experienced winegrower and then worked in a one-to-one relationship with that partner throughout the five-week program. Several mental health workers (e.g. nurse, mental health educator) and a social researcher (one of the researchers for this study) accompanied the participants and worked with them and the winegrowers in the vineyard. The researcher, by immersing herself in the same grape harvesting activities as the study participants, was able “to understand with immediacy and authenticity the nuances that bring to life the inner landscape derived from this experience.” As she worked, the researcher also conducted observations of the participants and used written and voice notes, along with photographs and sketches, to record her observations. Well-developed field notes from these observations and semi-structured interviews conducted with the participants approximately one month after the conclusion of the vineyard activities were used as data for this study.
Findings revealed a number of therapeutic mental health benefits gained by the participants from their experiences in the viticultural landscape. These benefits included increased confidence, more positive identities, and greater understandings about the inner dimensions of the self. Both the physical and social aspects of the viticultural landscape played key roles in providing these benefits. Social aspects were related to the positive relationships the participants were able to establish with the peer group and the encounters they had with the winegrowers. One unexpected outcome related to some participants feeling that they had actively contributed to reducing prejudices toward mental illness among the winegrowers.
This study indicates that a viticultural landscape can be a therapeutic landscape for youth experiencing ill mental health. The study also suggests that the experience of the vineyard can become a “therapeutic landscape of the mind” which stays with them over time.
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