Mental ill-health in Sweden continues to rise. To promote mental health, we need to develop new social health innovations. One area that has shown good results is activities and measures carried out in close proximity to nature and animals, i.e. nature-based interventions.

Through rural entrepreneurship, nature-based interventions can be made available to all. What are the prerequisites and how to overcome the barriers to development? The interdisciplinary research project “Tur i Skogen – entreprenörers naturbaserade och sociala innovationer”, funded by the Kamprad Family Foundation, investigates this with a focus on the counties Norrbotten and Skåne.

Among other things, the following will be discussed:

– What enables and hinders the development of entrepreneurship offering nature-based interventions.

– The impact of procurement rules on the development of social health innovations.

– What is needed to enable sustainable entrepreneurship in rural areas.

– New collaborative and business models for nature-based interventions.

The webinar is organized by Esbri and the research project “Tur i skogen – entreprenörers naturbaserade och sociala innovationer” at Luleå University of Technology.

About the speakers/panelists:

Jeaneth Johansson is a professor at Luleå University of Technology and Halmstad University. She conducts research in entrepreneurship, innovation, digitalization and financing, with a focus on sustainability and health innovation. She works interdisciplinary and explores, among other things, how small and medium-sized enterprises can reach out with and scale up social innovations in health and care. Her research focuses on business model innovations and new collaborative models that promote growth, increase efficiency and contribute to person-centered care.

Päivi Juuso is a registered nurse, district nurse and associate professor of nursing at Luleå University of Technology. Her research focuses on the role of nature in health, more specifically how nature-based interventions can promote mental health. In interdisciplinary projects, she investigates how different actors such as small and medium-sized enterprises and public actors can collaborate to contribute to health promotion, regional development and social innovations in health. She also researches the health of older people and digital solutions to promote health and well-being.

Lis-Lott Andersson is a registered nurse and founder and CEO of Humlamaden Grön Rehab. The business has existed since the early 1990s and she is one of the pioneers in Sweden of medical nature-supported therapy to prevent and treat mental illness among adults, children and young people. Since 2009, the work has been followed by researchers at SLU in Alnarp and Lund University. Recently, researchers at Halmstad University started a research project to follow Humlamaden Green Rehab’s treatment of children and young people affected by various eating disorders and other anxiety disorders.

Ulf Hallgårde is a registered doctor with many years of experience as an ear, nose and throat doctor. In parallel with his clinical work, he has been very involved in development work in healthcare. During 2006-2015, he was responsible for Region Skåne’s work to improve the sick leave process. At that time, the problem was identified that the healthcare system had no effective treatment for fatigue syndrome. This led, among other things, to the development of nature-supported rehabilitation in rural areas and increased cooperation between health centers / mental health clinics and procured farms.

Anders W Jonsson is a pediatrician and Member of Parliament (C). In Parliament, he is the spokesperson on health care issues for the Center Party and is active in the Committee on Health and Welfare and the Committee on Social Insurance.

Fredrik Lundh Sammeli is an air force officer and Member of Parliament (S). He is vice chairman of the Social Affairs Committee and spokesperson on social and healthcare policy for the Social Democrats.