Continuum of care
Rebecca Kleinbaum Sanders, AIA, NCARB, health care principal in the Minneapolis office of architecture, engineering and planning firm HGA, remarks that there is a continuum of care in behavioral health, just as in general health care. Patients may require an emergency department or crisis center, acute care, residential care or a day treatment center, depending on their needs. “It’s important to think of all the different settings,” says Kleinbaum Sanders. Different settings entail different treatment environments and levels of patient observation.
Hazelden Plymouth (Minn.), is an addiction treatment center operated by the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation. The center provides a variety of residential and outpatient services for patients age 12 to 25, as well as family programs. In the entrance lobby, regional limestone and cherry wood give a sense of stability and warmth. The treatment spaces include art and music therapy rooms and a gymnasium with a climbing wall, all intended to keep patients engaged and actively learning to interact with others. The residential area has a living room, quiet lounge and snack area for group activities. Individual sleeping areas are separated by half-height walls.
Hope House, Martinez, Calif., a 16-bed, short-term residential treatment facility operated by mental health service provider Telecare Corp., is meant to serve as an alternative to inpatient hospitalization in times of crisis or as a step-down, transitional living environment. According to Kleinbaum Sanders, the facility is designed to give people room to grow and develop toward integrating into the community. The facility has single and double bedrooms. Areas like the group kitchen give people a place to learn and practice life skills.
The ultimate goal
Hunt stresses that while the patient-caregiver relationship is the most important aspect of recovery, design can play a significant role.
“A building’s not going to heal anybody,” he says. “But you can put patients in a space that makes them worse. You can take a patient who is suffering from depression and put them in a facility that makes them feel like they’re being punished for being ill. And if we give them an environment that makes them feel that way when they come in, we’re going to deepen that depression. We’ll make them more difficult to treat.”
The ultimate goal in the design of behavioral health facilities is to make patients feel at ease, comfortable and receptive to treatment. “If we can accomplish that, I think we’ve done our job very well,” Hunt says.
Amy Eagle is a freelance writer based in Homewood, Ill., who specializes in health care-related topics. She is a regular contributor to Health Facilities Management.