Mental Health Courtyards
Realizing the promise of a healing environment for Mental Health patients
Light. Space. Privacy. Comfort. The ability to deliver state-of-the art health care. These were the promises inherent in the architectural designs of the new Peterborough Regional Health Centre (PRHC) when construction began in 2005. Promises that reflected not only the input of experts, community members, staff and patients, but a societal expectation that our hospitals be more than an institution where the sick are treated. An expectation that they also be a place of healing.
From the day the doors opened in 2008, it was clear that these promises had been kept. Larger, brighter, more private - every feature designed to maximize patient care and safety, while safeguarding dignity and creating a healing environment for patients, visitors and staff.
The importance of a healing environment cannot be underestimated. Documented evidence tells us that a healing environment has a direct impact on patient care – reducing length of stay and use of antidepressants, improving patient satisfaction and improving patient outcomes.
PRHC’s promise of a healing environment is most evident in our four carefully designed courtyards, palliative care roof-top garden and exterior public spaces. Unfortunately, financial pressures and budgetary realignment resulted in a delay in construction of the courtyards until after the hospital opened and community support was found to complete them on a project-by-project basis.
Progress to date has been outstanding. The community, through the PRHC Foundation, has now funded the completion of the rehabilitation courtyard, contemplative courtyard, and Palliative Care rooftop garden.
The next courtyard that the Foundation will focus on is the space that supports Mental Health Services (MHS) , but is also viewable from the palliative department Family Room.
Located on the ground floor of the hospital, the courtyard in its current state is disheartening. Barren and undeveloped, it fails to reflect the welcoming and supportive attitude embodied by PRHC’s MHS staff. Left as it is, it has the potential to reinforce negative stereotypes and social stigmas faced by so many mental health patients outside of the hospital.
However, while it may be a sea of concrete and weeds today, its potential to transform into a safe and therapeutic environment in which mental health patients can engage in their own recovery is limited only by the support and generosity of the community.
With your help, we can create a space for mental health patients that will not only improve the aesthetic, but enhance the department’s holistic approach to care and actually improve clinical outcomes. With your help, we can realize the promise of a healing environment.
Help us realize the promise of a healing environment with a gift today
We believe that mental health is an integral part of health. We believe we must invest now in a space that research proves could significantly contribute to our mental health patients’ well-being and enable treatment that could be as effective as prescription drugs in treating some forms of mental illness.
The PRHC Foundation is seeking community support to fund the completion of the mental heath courtyard and bring us one step closer to fully realizing a healing environment at PRHC.
Your support will help us create a space that will enhance treatment, improve outlook, reduce stress, and actually improve clinical outcomes for mental health patients. Please give generously.
For more information, please call Lesley Heighway, President and CEO at 705.743.2121, ext. 3859.
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