An ‘inspiring’ new home for child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) in Stockport has opened its doors to young people and their families.
FWP led on the project for Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust, which has seen £1.4m invested in developing a safe clinical space.
The new facility has been created in Stopford House in the centre of Stockport and is part of a wider refurbishment of the building for Stockport Council.
The new facility will help children on their journey to recovery from conditions, such as anxiety, autism, depression, psychosis, self harm, ADHD, and ASD.
As well as input from the clinical team, ideas and thoughts were gathered from young people and their families about the layout and interior design of the new unit.
And the result is a modern and bright facility that includes 18 themed rooms which will be used for treatment and support.
FWP’s design of the centre began with the service user’s journey, starting with the approach to the building providing a clear, bright, identifiable entrance to the building with excellent signage and graphics.
Once inside, there is a reception area far detached from the typical CAMHS or clinical environment with a modern look that includes a slatted timber and moss wall.
All design elements known to be beneficial for people with neurodiversity conditions have also been put into practice, with easy-to-read signage and soft colours used throughout.
In addition, a secure corridor space where the therapy rooms are located has been widened to lower anxiety and has open spaces with built-in seating areas, feature timber-slatted walls, graphic walls, and plenty of colour.
And each room has a graphical image depicting its theme on the door and a unique design on the walls, chosen by the children and young people the service supports. These themes include waterfalls, Dr Who, orangutans, space, elephants, music, and mountains. There is also a large tropical island-themed room for art and group therapy.
Each room has a graphical image depicting its theme on the door and a unique design on the walls, which were chosen by the young people the service supports
Consultations with administration and clinical teams resulted in open-plan office areas with desking systems set up to enable collaborative working.
Virtual meeting pods and touch-down acoustically-treated meeting spaces have been created, and there is a chillout space and library where staff can relax.
The development has been designed to be sustainable, with a new air source heat pump replacing the old heating system and double-glazed windows and LED lighting installed.
David Simmons, FWP senior associate, said: “Our approach was to create a journey from start to finish for the service user that is modern, exciting, and encompasses design for a wide variety of age groups.
“We did this by taking on board all information learnt from service users and clinical workshops, together with the latest available information on neurodiversity design.”
He added: “All the themes for the room were created and decided on by the service users themselves; one room was even created by a service user applying their amazing artwork to a full digital image wall.
“The result is testament to all the hard work the CAMHS team, estates, and our own FWP team have dedicated to this project.
“The creation of a state-of-the-art facility in an existing 1960s building forming such an exciting interior space that will enhance and encourage wellbeing in both patient and staff has been hugely important to us all.”
Sarah Leah, Pennine Care’s associate director of operations for CAMHS, added: “We have created a leading mental health environment for children and young people.
“The building has been transformed into a unique, light, bright, and welcoming space and the feedback we’ve had so far from our families and staff has been amazing.”