From Design to Impact: Understanding and Amplifying the Role of Expert by Experience in the Design of Mental Health Buildings and Spaces

Synopsis

This presentation will follow Jo’s journey from Architect to service user, and from service user to lived experience Advisor. It is an invitation to collaborate with evidence based, lived experience expertise, and will explore the need for, and potential of, lived experience advisors in the design of mental health spaces.

Jo will provide insights into the involvement process behind spatial planning, furniture selection and art creation in collaboration with art charity Hospital Rooms, and examining the role of lived experience advisors in the design of the new mental health hospitals in South West London.

Our mental health care spaces can hold the tension between providing ‘sense of safety’ and a ‘sense of self’. Surely then, the expertise of users should help to shape better care for the future?