Granja Escola l’Auró

A. The main facts about the activities of the company.

Presentation Video

Auró is a pioneering project in Catalonia, specialized in special education camps for all ages without social barriers, where people with special limitations do not feel different, and where all the installations that they have are designed from the ecological and sustainable bio-architecture.
The main objective: work all the therapeutic and relaxing potential of the nature, prioritizing the maximum autonomy of the user and the rehabilitation of people affected by mental illness or physical limitations, importing innovative European methodologies to Catalonia.
Activities are personalized to children, adults and families, according to the service that the customer wants to enhance, designed by a team of experts consisting of educators for children, psychologists, occupational therapists, sensory integrative, social workers, monitors and leisure social integrators. The activities that they offer are:

• Horticulture and Zootherapy: contact with nature and working with animals and plants, enhance the rehabilitation of people suffering from mental illnesses or physical limitations. The benefits of gardening and growing plants is extensive, based on three pillars:
o Sensory stimulation: smells, colors, sounds, taste and touch.
o Physical stimulation: The works of active gardening.
o Emotional stimulation: nature, the care and return of the care given.

• Environmental education: Because future generations can enjoy their environment is essential to educate the current values of sustainability and environmental responsibility.

The activities are structured and designed to forge a free time for developing individual skills of each child: physical, mental, athletic, artistic, intellectual and social. They work with a maximum ratio of 10 children / monitor, and a minimum of 5 children / monitor according to the degree of autonomy of users.

B. The Ethical challenges this company is addressing.

“La Granja Escola l’Auró” has an environmental awareness that leads them to make facilities-based on green Bioarchitecture and sustainable renewable energy applied to the sufficiency of the operation: saving water used, reusing rain, biological treatment for reuse; the use of geothermal heating, organic composting, and recycling of plastic waste.

The human dimension are the heart of its business development both internally and with the environment, a weaving cooperative and direct promotion of the social economy, develop a career based on networking with organizations, foundations and professional education and within the social context of disability.
Create a private space with a universal accessibility, where people feel special limitations no different, because they are not.

The space of leisure and games are very important in a vehicle education of their children. So from “l’Auró” promote the values of acceptance and appreciation of diversity, cooperation, solidarity and non-competition, with the pedagogical nature partner. Working channels like the family dialogue, personal and cohabitation. Discover new tools that offers natural art, theater, workshops Gestalt or systematic teaching, and put them at the service of people, especially in an environment that invites us to discover the natural and again.
They apply a model of social economy, designed to serve the general interest of communities and social cooperation.

C. What makes you believe this company is really ethical and why you trust it?

The traditional economic model is only concerned with immediate benefit, without considering that this benefit can survive and be sustainable. So what “Auró” intents is to change this vision and look for the social and environmental benefits and transmit this change to children, and always showing their ethical values, like acceptance and appreciation of diversity, cooperation and solidarity.

On a social level enhance the family conciliation; not discriminate people, promote the labor integration of people at risk of social exclusion and prevent unfair competition and take into account the needs of its customers.

Auró’s project makes it special because is specialized and designed to work the different diseases and physical and cognitive limitations, of children at school camps, like adults in specialized workshops, conferences therapeutic or educational family outings, and simultaneously teaching them the benefits of the environment and that natural resources are not eternal and their consumption should be responsible.

D.The possible challenges facing the company in the future and how you think this company may improve.

This company will face an increasing demand of people that are more concerned about nature and its problems and people who trust with these services.
The positive effects with this type of nature therapies are proved, but maybe this institution could be addressed to all type of people at risk of social exclusion (not only disabled people) like drug addicts. Maybe this interaction is beneficial for people with problems of addiction.
Another type of activities they could do is something related with the nature but outside the farm. Maybe plant trees in the forest (disabled people are very implicated with this type of facts that need some responsibility), or maybe to organize gymkhanas or tours nearly the forests.