Events

Healing Encounters: from Hospital Gardens to Animal Therapy Programmes

(The event will be conducted in German without translation)

24 March 2026, 13.00-14.00
Online upon registration

Nature can be healing – both green spaces and encounters with animals can enhance people's well-being. The webinar provides insights into historical hospitalgardens and today's animal therapy off erings. The focus is on how nature can contribute to promoting health and quality of life.

 

About the Speakers:

PD Dr.-Ing. Sylvia Butenschön is a landscape architect and garden conservationist. She works as a researcher and lecturer in the Department of Urban Conservation and Urban Cultural Heritage at the Technical University of Berlin. Her teaching area is garden cultural history and garden conservation. Her research focuses on the history of urban green spaces in the 19th and 20th centuries, rural garden culture and regional development, and the protection of historic cultural landscapes. Sylvia Butenschön is chair of the German Horticultural Library and deputy chair of the Berlin State Monument Council.
In the webinar, Sylvia Butenschön focuses on the design of historic hospital gardens. It has long been known that green spaces can have a positive influence on the healing of patients– but we know surprisingly little about the specific design of outdoor facilities and open spaces at different types of hospitals. Sylvia Butenschön provides insights into the
structure, design and use of historic hospital gardens.
Sandra Grittke originally comes from the field of compliance and data protection and is also the managing partner of Profaris Mensch und Tier gUG. As part ofher work, she has trained as a specialist in animal-assisted work and as a resilience and relaxation trainer. Profaris was founded in 2023. Since February 2024, the learning and meeting place with animals has been located in Teltow near Berlin.
In her presentation, Sandra Grittke gives a practical introduction to animal-assisted work with sheep and goats. She provides insights into the daily work at Profaris and reports on the effects on people's well-being and health based on anonymised testimonials.

 

Program
Welcome & Introduction by Ina Säumel (5 min)
Presentation by Sylvia Butenschön (15 min)
Presentation by Sandra Grittke (15 min)
Questions from the chat and open discussion (25 min)

The webinar will be recorded except for the open discussion.
The event will be conducted in German without translation. However, you are very welcome to provide questions and input in English as well.

 

Register now on Eventbrite.