Healthcare Design - June/July 2020 - 47

the

center

A THOUGHTFUL
APPROACH

As the need for behavioral and mental health
services grows, the design industry is being called to
respond with carefully planned environments that
balance safety and well-being By Debra Levin

CCORDING TO A Kaiser Fam-

ily Foundation tracking
poll conducted in 2016,
nearly one in five adults
in the U.S. has a mental,
behavioral, or emotional
health disorder. That same
year, the foundation did an
analysis of data from the Bureau of Economic
Analysis Health Care Satellite and found that
one in five Americans reported they or a family member did not receive needed mental
health services, with cost being the most common barrier. And yet, according to Statistica,
$225 billion was spent on mental health services in 2019-a number that has been growing
steadily every year.
These numbers help illustrate a disconnect
between dollars spent, access to care, and better health outcomes. This issue is something
the healthcare, design, and technology communities have been looking to help solve through
the creation of new patient programs, physical
access points, and digital platforms.
In May, The Center for Health Design
planned to hold a one-day workshop on behavioral health design, focusing on strategic design
innovations that improve treatment, outcomes,
safety, and the bottom line. Because an in-person event wasn't possible, we transformed the
program into an online series held over three
days that month. A similarly themed, one-day,
in-person program is still scheduled to be held
in Baltimore in September.
The online event featured six diverse programs, including an opening session on the current state of behavioral healthcare and design,
project case studies, and a presentation on how
flexible design can respond to a variety of care
needs. Content from this series is now available
on The Center's website.
One of the programs that was particularly
relevant was the session "Designing a Place of
Sanctuary for Behavioral Health Inpatients

and Staff," presented by Kim Boe, executive
vice president at West Springs Hospital, and
Robyn Linstrom, senior associate at Davis Partnership Architects. The speakers discussed
how the design of West Springs Hospital, a new
psychiatric hospital, helps create a place of serenity and a haven for both patients and staff
while maximizing safety and well-being.
For example, the single-story building has
a raised roof that brings daylight deep into the
interior of the building and multiple courtyards to allow for access to nature and fresh air
year-round. Lounging niches are designed into
the hallways to give patients options of where
they can spend their time but are still in sight of
the nurses' stations.
The need for thoughtfully designed behavioral health facilities is only going to increase
in the coming years as the number of patients
with mental illness continues to grow. In the
previously mentioned Kaiser Family Foundation analysis, it was found that the number of
treated mental illness cases grew at a faster rate
than the average number for all other healthcare treatments. To help arm our community
with the resources it needs to answer this call,
The Center, through sponsorship, is able to allow free access to our online Behavioral and
Mental Health Toolbox. This kit features 50plus resources that are searchable by subject
or resource type and contains issue and project
briefs, expert interviews, webinars, podcasts,
and executive summaries. Visit www.health
design.org to explore these offerings, and
please reach out to let us know if there are new
resources or topics you'd like us to explore. 
Debra Levin is president and CEO of The Center for
Health Design. She can be reached at D L E V I N @
H E A LT H D E S I G N . O R G .

J U N E /J U LY 2 0 2 0

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Healthcare Design - June/July 2020

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