There are two lines of development of the CVC Foundation's projects. One focuses on the study and preservation of marine ecosystems, a commitment that has always been ingrained in the spirit of Caprera and in recent years resulted in the M.A.R.E. project (www.progettomare.org).
The other is that which puts the person at the center and which finds in the sea a means of mitigating physical, psychological and social hardships. A strand that we have renamed the Sea as a cure and which sees in the Patients on Board project, developed with the nonprofit We Will Care, its spearhead.
Patients on Board aims to strengthen through the practice of sailing and contact with the sea the psychological resources and physical well-being of cancer patients. The meeting with CVC, which has been active on the sailing front for years, is not coincidental.
"We have chosen a place away from the superstructures and daily roles that often limit listening to the self and the recovery of one's well-being," Gabriella Pravettoni, scientific coordinator of We Will Care and full professor and director of the division of psychoncology European Institute of Oncology, explains. Psychotherapy moves into a nonhospitalized setting to define a new self distinct from the disease. Patients on Board is a scientific research-intervention project that aims to analyze and measure the short- and long-term effects this kind of experience can have on our patients in psychological and physical terms. Since 2017, there have been 330 patients who have taken part in the project, and the data collected over the years have shown an increase in psychological well-being, relational well-being, and management of anxiety and acceptance of the new body image."
In 2023, 65 new patients will be engaged in the courses, while 30 will return to Caprera after having participated in previous editions.