Abstract

Historically, patients with long-term mental illness have been warehoused away from the local population.​ Driven by stigma, lack of understanding, and marginalised resources, citizens with mental health concerns were often isolated further in facilities separated from the community. Access to care is often limited and the continuum of care has been disjointed. It can take five years for a patient to find their place as a functioning member of society, managed and stabilised. How does this fit into a system that focuses on short-term solutions or otherwise long-term isolation?

Carrier Clinic has been a pioneer in overcoming this dilemma. From a farm-based, grassroots initiative, Carrier, in conjunction with NK Architects’ Behavioral Health Design team, has designed and developed a unique healing campus. Combining patient-designed care in unison with community-based initiatives and integrated leadership has resulted in the construction of a system of compassionate care that is helping to break through this stigma, and is designing a continuum of accessible compassionate care into the community, and beyond. Compassion for humanity with alternative solutions and evidence-based best practices is the premise of the proposed solution to stigma and isolation.

This presentation will illustrate how the creative intelligence of design can transform and improve the physical and mental environments in behavioural health, and how by working in collaboration with service providers and users, we can design for better outcomes that can reach from an individual sense of dignity to the greater whole – a pebble in the pond, from individual to a global reach.

Examples will be shared of how the physical environment has improved the world of behavioural health, both perceived and physical, demonstrating how facilities once defined by a stone wall with a locked gate to an asylum are changing beyond recognition, as we design dignified environments and reach out to the community to develop awareness and help eliminate stigma.

In a world in which mental illness is still greatly stigmatised, and where many are still struggling to find solutions to the issues impacting behavioural health, addiction and wellbeing, architecture and design solutions can help achieve better outcomes.