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Physical Environment & Mental Health

Issues Related to the Physical Environment

Many factors in the physical environment can influence the experience of a survivor with a mental health condition. They include the acoustical conditions, the lighting and the ability to choose to move between personal space and shared space.

Examples

  • A woman with a mental health condition has been assigned a room adjacent to a back porch which is the place of choice for night staff and for survivors who have trouble sleeping. She paces through the night and is irritable and grumbling through the day about people talking about her.
  • Good general lighting prevails throughout the facility but little task lighting. A survivor with a mental health issue must work on notes for an upcoming trial but puts it off every day.
  • Group meetings are held in a small room in which all the chairs face in the same direction. It is difficult to get up during the meeting without interrupting everyone else.

Suggested Solutions

  • It is seldom possible to allocate rooms based on personal need or preference. Advise the survivor that you want to help her to compensate for the noisy location of her room. Offer a fan that can be run through the night to create a ‘white noise’ barrier and offer inexpensive foam pads to put in her ears
  • Concentration can be improved with task lighting for many people. Offer to set up a quiet corner with a small, focused light for her to complete the task.
  • Consider that many people under stress may have difficulty sitting for any period of time without the opportunity to move away from the group for a period of privacy.
  • Consider reducing the stress of the room by adding noise reducing features and rearranging the room to allow some people to choose short breaks into hallways or to relocate to seating behind or to the side of the main seating.
  • See the Creating Welcoming Environments section on the Physical Environment: Waiting Areas, Intake & Individual Counseling for information on environmental conditions that reduce stress.