There is a relatively new field in healthcare design called “Evidence Based Design” which was created to study the effects of a person’s environment on their healing. The evidence shows that certain design aspects (i.e. color, placement of furniture, artwork) can positively or negatively effect how someone recovers. I experienced this first hand at my treatment center.
The environment at the center was not ideal, the space was too small, the furniture mismatched, the blinds broken and the physical therapy gym above had us all covering our heads because of the thumping. I joked that I was going to bring a hammer with me just so I could rearrange the artwork into a more appealing array. Although the treatment helped me, it was hard for me to look past the physical space and feel relaxed enough to fully process everything I was learning. I can see now just how important the physical environment is to healing and how conducive it is to transformation.