Healthcare Design - August 2022 - 47

the center
ADVERTISERS' INDEX
Architex ...............................................................C4
Armstrong Ceilings .................................................. 5
ASI ..................................................................... 16
BDNY ............................................................... 114
Carolina ................................................................ 1
Center for Health Design......................................... 56
Convergent Technologies Design .............................. 35
DeepStream Designs .............................................. 38
EFA Conference + Expo.......................................... 44
ERG .................................................................... 27
Furniture Concepts ................................................. 15
HCD Conference + Expo ........................................ 36
HCD Forum .......................................................... 40
HD Expo.............................................................. 58
HealthPoint ........................................................... 46
IIDA .................................................................... 58
Intellihot ............................................................... 50
Kimball .................................................................. 7
Kwalu .................................................................C2
La-Z-Boy Healthcare | Knú Comfort ........................... 39
LDI Interiors ........................................................... 14
Midmark .............................................................. 10
Moduform ............................................................ 45
modularArts .......................................................... 20
Paladin Healthcare ................................................ 42
Pineapple Contracts ............................................... 31
Placzek Studios .....................................................C3
QuietRock by PABCO Gypsum .................................. 2
RFID .................................................................... 60
Shaw Contract ...................................................... 19
Sherwood Windows .............................................. 43
Stance Healthcare ................................................... 9
Vaask .................................................................. 21
The index to advertiser page numbers is published for
reader convenience. Every effort is made to list page
numbers correctly. The listing is not part of the advertising
contract and the publisher is not responsible for errors
or omissions.
CHARTING A PATH
New interactive design diagrams offer guidance
on designing spaces for mental health treatment
By Debra Levin
A
CCORDING TO THE National
Alliance on Mental
Illness (NAMI), one in
five people experience a
mental illness and one in
20 experience a serious
mental illness. The uncertainties
created by the
global COVID-19 pandemic have made the
last few years even more challenging, with one
in five people reporting a significant negative
impact on their mental health. For those with
existing mental health issues, that number increases
to closer to one in two.
Watching this trend, The Center for Health
Design has been focusing on building tools and
resources to support the industry in its work to
create safe and therapeutic environments for
mental health treatment.
A suite of resources available to all on The
Center's website (www.healthdesign.org)
contains webinars; virtual workshops; and a
toolbox that includes interviews, case studies,
and product innovation highlights. Recently, a
set of interactive design diagrams was added
to the suite that provides context and guidance
when designing spaces for mental or behavioral
health.
One of those diagrams is for a therapeutic
emergency department (ED) treatment room.
It provides detailed design strategies to achieve
a wide variety of desired outcomes. It looks beyond
safety alone to consider the well-being of
patients and staff and address the stigma that
can be associated with mental and behavioral
health treatment.
The evidence-based tool takes a comprehensive
look at 15 distinctive design elements that
go into an ED treatment room with behavioral
health considerations, including room layout,
technology, and furniture selection. It connects
cited research to design strategies as it
relates to specific desired outcomes such as
the safe delivery of care, caregiver health/support/respite,
and reducing risk of harm to self
or others.
For example, a design strategy linked to
reducing the risk of harm to self or others features
the use of ligature-resistant sliding doors
or hinged doors that open in both directions or
only to the outside. This solution both reduces
the risk of self-harm as well as acts as an antibarricade
tactic.
Forty-five percent of patients admitted to
the hospital for a medical condition or presenting
to the ED with a minor injury also
have concurrent behavioral and mental health
conditions. Understanding what the research
says and the guidance it provides for making
safe and informed design decisions needs
to be at the forefront of our decision-making
process. These tools are designed to support
those goals and provide a jumping off point for
rich discussion. 
Debra Levin is president and CEO of The Center for
Health Design. She can be reached at DLEVIN@
HEALTHDESIGN.ORG .
AU GUST 2022
47
http://www.healthdesign.org
Healthcare Design - August 2022

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