Trauma Informed Design for Behavioral Health- part 2

Guests: Meredith Banasiak / J. Davis Harte

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Janet: In this series we will be discussing specific examples of design techniques that make a positive difference for people living with certain human conditions.

Carolyn: The more a designer understands the client and or the community the more effective and respectful the design will be.

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Intro

Janet: Welcome to Inclusive Designers Podcast, I am your host, Janet Roche…

Carolyn: And I am your moderator, Carolyn Robbins.

Janet: We have a really great show for you today, we are taking a look at how to improve the standard of care in behavioral health using a trauma-informed design approach. And for this important discussion, we are talking to the amazing Meredith Banasiak.

Carolyn: Let me tell you a little bit more about Meredith… she is a Fellow with the Centre for Conscious Design; maintains an advisory role with the Academy of Neuroscience for Architecture. She has published in psychology, medicine, and architectural research journals and books. And now she is here to share her passion for research and evidence-based design with us today.

Janet: And to make it even more special we have asked Davis Harte, or as I refer to her as Dr Harte, to be my co-host. Together we have co-founded the Trauma Informed Design Society and will be adding our insight from that to this discussion.

Meredith has done some incredible work on sensory issues and designing for human health along with Trauma-informed Design, to foster inclusivity and a healthier environment.

Carolyn: There is so much to explore here, that we’ve decided to make this a 3-part series. You can listen straight through or choose to hear each section separately, let’s call it ala carte.

Janet: In this section, we will look at the stigma of mental health, and what the research is telling us about how best to design for these environments. Meredith will provide specific examples of Behavioral Health facilities where these were successfully implemented.

Carolyn: And of course, if you want to know more about any of the places or studies mentioned, we will have a really rich list of resources for you on our website: InclusiveDesigners.com.

Janet: Carolyn, I think we’ve covered all that needs to be said here up front, so I guess we should just start the show now, don’t you?

Carolyn: Agreed. Without further ado, here is our thought-provoking look at combining neuroscience with evidence-based design, with insights from Janet, Meredith Banasiak and Davis Harte …

Interview- Overview

Janet: Hi, and welcome to Inclusive Designers. I am your host, Janet Roche. And today, we’ve got a special guest host. You’ve seen her before on this show, Davis Harte. And today we’re going to be interviewing Meredith Banasiak. Welcome Meredith. Welcome Davis. How’s everybody doing today?

Davis: Great. Thanks Janet. It’s wonderful to be here…

Meredith: yeah, it’s great to be here.

Janet: Thank you for coming.

Interview- Section 2

Janet: So Meredith, let’s talk a little bit about behavioral health facilities, and then how they’re being improved by using trauma informed design. You want to talk a little bit about that? Maybe talk a little bit about Boulder Community Health program or the pediatric inpatient part that you’ve been working on.

Meredith: So yes, we’re seeing this move toward trauma informed design in behavioral health services. And if we, you know, think about behavioral health facilities, they’ve historically been designed to support care that can trigger a patient’s experience of trauma during treatment.

So think about, you know, the use of seclusion and restraint. if you’ve never been in a behavioral health facility, I, I’m not saying that Hollywood paints an accurate picture of that at all, but that there are practices in some of those movies that we’re familiar with which we see historically in behavioral health treatment programs like seclusion and restraint, very sort of barren institutional environments that lack environmental complexity. So, you know, for example, the thought is, you can’t put furniture in or art hanging on the wall or something, because that could be used to hurt someone or the patient themselves