Workshop Seminars

Recognising the need for standardised product testing in the mental health built environment, DIMHN have been working for some years now on an independent testing solution in partnership with BRE – INFORMED CHOICES – a new global testing standard which gives a graded performance measure for use in mental health environments. Extensive research with the market, estates and clinician consultation have formed the backbone of this work, which is being launched formally at the conference.

To encourage adoption of the new standard, DIMHN will support education events, webinars and discussion points so that clinicians, specifiers and planners can make INFORMED CHOICES.

At the workshop INFORMED CHOICES – transparency between built environment and clinical risk management Emma Shakespeare, Senior Design Manager, Sir Robert McAlpine, Claire Iverson, suicide prevention lead at Merseycare and Vicky Taylor, interior designer at Knightsbridge Furniture and associate of the Network, will discuss the balance between managing risk through built environment, product, clinical, and service design. The Workshop will be an opportunity to share thoughts with peers on how to assess performance results and best practice using the new standard. Suitable for clinical teams, designers, manufacturers and architects.

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1 in 4 people experience a mental health problem of some kind each year, and the biggest current concern for these people is the problem with accessing support. Shortage of providers is now critical and staff burnout prevention has become a major concern. The workshop shall aim to look at means of making mental health support more accessible. The primary focus being to improve the social connection through MH cafes & creating healthy wellbeing spaces for patients and staff. Ensuring easy access with free wifi and levelling up home access to those in need. Exploring where the journey begins, and what means can be reviewed and enhanced to create better education and prevention. Investigating ways on how we can destigmatise Mental Health so that it is easily accessible to all.

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We are all different. What makes each of us tick and feel able and well to tackle the challenges of the world is different. How to we find comfort and wellbeing away from home?

We know that personalised and flexible spaces are the result of choice and create the opportunity for individualised care and recovery. Having choice is a fundamental requirement of freedom that is often reduced or removed in In-patient environments. But mental health inpatient settings are regularly designed around a set of core spaces and standardised repeatable rooms, with limited resources focused on how we enable truly individualised care through the building itself.

The workshop will explore key components of a typical mental health ward, striving to define what makes good design appropriate for each of us, and how this can be achieved using innovative products and technologies.

Ideal attendees will include People with Lived Experience, Clinical Staff, Estates and Facilities Teams, and Designers, and will help inform a new best practice for in-patient care environments.

Outcomes will be summarised in a paper within 6 weeks of the workshop.

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Since early 2021, a team within Sussex Partnership have taken an in-depth look at what it means for acute adult mental health wards to be 'Autism Friendly'. The team used a fully collaborative process, with Occupational Therapists, Speech and Language Therapists and Experts by Experience (EbEs) working alongside ward teams, Trust Estates and Facilities, project management and contracted teams on planned ward refurbishments, as well as future projects within the Trust.

The project had three key elements of focus: Environment; Training and Practice. This workshop will focus on the Environmental element of the project, explaining the background to the project (why now? why at all?); our process; findings and recommendations and will challenge attendees to consider how this can apply to their own work in the future.

Environmental aspects - the physical and sensory experience of the ward - were the starting point of the project, and drove huge changes within the planned refurbishments to ensure that the Expert by Experience voice was at the centre of the project.
A sensory environmental audit tool was used to assess two acute adult mental health wards, and recommendations were made by clinicians and EbEs, alongside the most up to date rapidly expanding research, to improve the experience of admission for autistic service users.
The team ensured that incorporated decision making was central to the whole process and the impact of this has been reflected upon by all involved.
The project has produced various guidelines that suggest 'standards' for good practice for each of the project elements. Within this workshop we will share relevant items when considering the impact of sensory aspects of hospital ward environments for individuals who are autistic, and may have sensory sensitivities.
We hope that this workshop will empower attendees to re-think their preconceptions about the inclusive design process, EbE involvement and future project output to maximise benefit for those who are neurodivergent using mental health services, and how this can ultimately benefit all users.

Format:
• PowerPoint presentation - 2x in-person speakers (clinicians), with Expert-by-Experience support TBC
• Interactive talk
• Small group activity - to discuss how recommendations could be applied and what is one thing they will take away to use/reflections
• Feedback
• Individual reflection

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Facilities for children and young people's mental health services need to accommodate a particularly diverse patient group. How do we do this well?

For example
The difference in maturity from someone 4 vs. 18 is significantly different, far greater than throughout working-adult age: 18 to 65. How do we create an environment that feels appropriate for all in this age group?

• The size of furniture, and height of fixtures and fittings vary depending on age and size.
• At earlier ages, children may not need to be separated by gender, however separation becomes necessary at older ages, as they become aware of their own sexual identity.
• There are a diverse range of patients within children and young people's mental health services with differing mental health needs. Learning disabilities vs. eating disorders, and acute vs. forensic services have quite different requirements, as do does the spectrum of neurodiversity and autism.

Challenge
• How do we accommodate specific needs of this diverse group while retaining long term flexibility?
• Can we design something that caters for all needs without looking or feeling different?
• What is the right balance between dedicated facilities that address specific needs vs. shared facilities.
• How do we separate quite different patient groups within the same ward?

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