Design in Mental Health is This Week!

The Design in Mental Health 2023 Conference, Exhibition and Awards begins on Wednesday 7th June and there's still time to book your place! Attendance at the exhibition is free but you can register for a delegate pass to attend workshops and conference sessions. Celebrating 10 years as the UK’s leading event focusing on the design, construction, refurbishment, management, and clinical provision of mental health environments, this is a key forum for anyone with an interest in mental healthcare environments.

This year Cath Lake Ben Lillywhite and Martha Mackinnon will be inviting discussion on how we design buildings for truly person-centred care, asking 'how we create a new standard for inpatient environments that improves each individual’s recovery'.

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 do 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.

Don't miss the opportunity to contribute to this insightful session that will help to inform new best practice for in-patient care environments, and keep a look out for the follow up paper due to be published in the coming months. Cath's workshop is on Wednesday 7th June from 16:00hrs. You can access all the workshop bookings here.

As well as Cath's workshop, P+HS Architects is proud to sponsor the Design in Mental Health Awards, celebrating the very best in mental healthcare design. This year we are supporting the Low Cost-High Impact category. Opportunities for largescale new buildings are rare, and this award celebrates the vision and creativity of modest, low-cost interventions that transform mental healthcare environments for staff, service users and families, enhancing lives.

The Awards ceremony takes place at the end of Day 1 starting immediately after the Exhibition closes and is complimentary for all visitors, speakers, and exhibitors to attend. The exciting occasion begins with a networking drinks reception, entertainment, and interactive games for you to enjoy.

You can see the DiMH Awards shortlist for 2023 here. Best of luck to all entries and here's to another successful event!