Service User Led Design: Designing Therapeutic Personal Spaces for Autism/CAMHS Environments

Synopsis

Over the last 12 months the teams at Gilling Dod, Kingsway Group and Britplas have undertaken research, development, and collaboration to explore patient centred design around next generation CAMHS bedroom environments and in particular design responses around Autism, Neurodiversity and eating disorders.  The project is a vehicle to stimulate meaningful engagement and collaboration with a broad range of Service users, Experts by Experience, Clinical practitioners, carers, and providers in the sector. To give service user voices a platform, to stimulate design innovation/insight/learning and bring in supply chain experts/innovators to respond to bespoke needs. Aim was to create an innovative, responsive, sensory bedroom concept design which could be used to promote discussion/feedback/insights/learnings via real world mock ups to be encountered/explored/evolved with stakeholders moving forward.

Key to this project was engagement and we approached this is numerous ways. POE from previous CAMHS clients, reaching out to MH charities, advocates and champions in the field, and approaching leading figures in Autism centred services. This included The Caudwell Children’s charity who we have worked with collaboratively in developing the brief and even taking part in their Family fun day event meeting/engaging with young people, families, ambassadors and clinical practitioners to understand the key issues/drivers/triggers. Same experts then helped refine the initial concepts into a working design.

Designs were then developed with an assembled group of innovative suppliers (Kingsway Group, Britplas, Pineapple, Thorlux etc) to help create actual 1 to 1 mock up located either end of the country and with a view to engaging with key stakeholders over time to help evolve the understanding/stimulate the conversation. A chance to challenge the norm, go beyond the P23 repeatable room model, and promote design aspiration and expectations on MH build projects across all pathways.