Last week, the Chic & Craft project was presented during a conference in Valladolid organized jointly by Fundación INTRAS, the European Platform for Rehabilitation (EPR) and the Social Services of the region of Castilla y León. The topic of the conference was “Mental health treatments in rural areas”. 

Chic & Craft is being implemented in the village of Toro, a rural village in the province of Zamora, so it is a great example of an innovative way to reach people with mental illness living in remote areas. Chic & Craft is an adult training course adapted to the real needs of the learners: women (most of them) living in a rural area with previous basic knowledge about sewing that are learning new ways to express their creativity and to produce garments adapted to the current trends. The presentation really attracted the attention of the audience (more than 60 people!), especially the part of training social abilities through peer mentoring. Events like this and the positive feedback gathered, encourage us to keep on working as we are doing now.