Person Centred Approach through Collaboration & Partnerships : A Year of Learning Through Designing Therapeutic Personal Spaces for Autism/CAMHS Environments

Synopsis

Developing good design through co-production to create safe spaces, which is appropriate to the user groups background and needs is critical to improving long term therapeutic outcomes and supporting equality, diversity and inclusion objectives of Trusts. A Year on from launching the Co-Production CAMHS Collaboration at Design in Mental Health 2024, Mark Childs, Kevin Gorman and Andrew Arnold reflect on the continued learning gained from opening the mock-up room, how it has already influenced new project design and future plans for its development globally.
Building on the previous years’ research, development and collaboration undertaken by Gilling Dod, Kingsway Group and Britplas, in June 23, we opened the 1:1 scale mock up to the wider Mental Health industry to peer review and input. Having undertaken qualitative research with Experts by Experience (EbE’s), Caudwell Children’s Charity and NHS Trusts we built a room, which was developed with a person centric approach, where rest, recouperation and sleep were central pillars of the design.
We understood in creating the room, the design was not intended to be a ‘destination’, rather a journey, with the aim of creating a lasting legacy by increasing awareness of the need for good design and to promote better outcomes for young people accessing Mental Health inpatient provision.
With a particular focus on Neurodivergent, Learning Difficulty and Eating Disorder user groups, we have held of series of Open Days across the year which have included Clinical leads, Health & Safety and Facilities teams, people with Lived Experience, Architects and Construction partners, with the central question ‘how would you build a CAMHS room’ centred around a therapeutic approach and how do you see the mock up adding to the experience for service users.