Camminautismo Project - en

Ferrino returns to the Camino de Santiago with the young people of the CamminAutismo project

The collaboration between Ferrino and the youngsters, families, and educators of the Mulino Sambuy association of San Mauro Torinese has been renewed once again this year. Today, just two days before the anniversary of World Autism Day, they presented the second edition of the CamminAutismo project in the Sala Trasparenza (Transparency Room) of the Piedmont Region.

In September last year, in fact, we were at the side of the thirteen young people, affected by autism with different levels of support, who, after a long preparation training, took part in the first edition of the initiative, tackling the last 114 kilometres of the famous Camino de Santiago.
We had the privilege of accompanying them on this great adventure, providing the participants with our best trekking and hiking equipment.
This ambitious and innovative experience, created with the aim of creating opportunities for generalization and 'situational learning' of the essential autonomies of the young people involved, obtained results that exceeded expectations.

"The data collected," explained the Mulino Sambuy association's trainers during the press conference, "showed significant changes in basic, social and relational autonomies in eight specific areas of intervention: orientation, road behaviour, use of means of transport, use of services, autonomy and personal hygiene, daily living skills, nutrition, and contextual rules. The testimonies of some parents, moreover, attest to the permanence of some of the acquired skills even after returning home".
In view of these positive results, the CamminAutismo project will be proposed again in 2023, with the involvement of ten adolescent boys and girls on the autistic spectrum, all from the Turin area and belonging to the Child Neuropsychiatry Department of the ASL City of Turin, who will walk the last 113 km of the Portuguese walk from Tui to Santiago.
With them, along with the team of escorts and educators, there will also be three of the young people who took part in the previous walk, to implement an approach based on the methodology of peer education, so as to provide a model and peer support for the new participants.

We at Ferrino will once again be at their side, easing their fatigue and making the walk more comfortable thanks to our materials and equipment.
“We are proud to renew this partnership," comments Anna Ferrino, CEO, "because for us it represents an opportunity to support the community in our area and a testimony to the extraordinary social and educational potential of hiking and outdoor activities, in which we have always believed. Our job is to take up the challenges of ambitious explorers and help them realise their projects: today the challenge is to walk and help these youngsters, their families and educators, making the dream come true once again".

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