In June, the annual event Design in Mental Health took place in Manchester. The event, organised by the Design in Mental Health Network and Step Exhibitions, saw 57 exhibitors
And 78 talk sessions, over two days.
The two-day event in Manchester hosted a variety of suppliers and NHS employees who work in the mental healthcare space.
The event is targeted at those involved in the design, build, equipping, refurbishment, or management of facilities for mental health treatment, as well as those who are clinicians or academics in the field of mental health.
The space
The exhibition hall in Manchester Central held space for multiple talks, networking areas, workshop rooms, as well as a space for the evening’s awards event.
The Keynote Theatre held some fascinating talks on many different topics, however, new this year was the “Design and Digital Solutions Theatre”.
The event’s organisers added the additional theatre within the Exhibition Hall, open to both paying conference delegates and exhibition visitors who attend on a free pass.
The new theatre covered topics such as digitalisation, staff safety, patient-centred design, fire safety and protection, as well as sustainability. Delegates made good use of this new addition.
The event hosted Dr Adrian James, Medical Director for Mental Health and Neurodiversity at NHS England
A taste of what you learn
Day one hit the ground running with a talk on the opportunities for the mental health built environment under the Labour government. A highly relevant topic for many who were in attendance.
A particularly interesting presentation later on in the morning walked through how Finland is designing its psychiatric care facilities. The talk from Raami Architects gave a fresh insight to the UK-based delegates on how other countries run their design process. The talk gave a detailed account of the meetings that took place along the journey, as well as how the stakeholders' roles varied. “The design coordinator who works for the client normally has a nursing background,” Lead Architect, Kaisa-Liisa Raiskinmäki, explains.
From a completely different angle, some of the lived experience speakers gave truly motivational and insightful experiences about their journeys. Alongside some pictures, expert by experience Richard Barton, said: “The healthcare providers were fighting against the environment.”
Barton was quick to praise his healthcare providers, but gave his compassion for the environments they were trying to work around.
On day two, there was a hugely affecting presentation that dove into trauma-informed approaches. One of the speakers, Jill Corbyn, who had experience being an autistic person in an inpatient environment, explained a recent scenario on a project they had worked on. On this project, Corbyn spoke with a nurse who disagreed with colleagues who would write up patients for yelling in a corridor. The nurse in the situation instead calmly approaches patients and leads the co-regulation with a calm disposition. “This meets distress with curiosity rather than with more distress,” Corbyn from Neurodiverse Connection called it.
This is a visceral way to aid the regulation of someone else that is often forgotten, with staff getting pulled into a distressed state instead of the reverse.
The speaker also gave a tangible way to illustrate the issue with built environments, using the exact environment delegates were all sitting in. They pointed to their health watch showing a heart rate that was 50 bpm above normal. This was not owing to nerves around public speaking; this was about the lights. Bright lights are hugely taxing on them and in long term exposure, can cause them to lose the ability to talk. It really drove home how the design of a facility can make or break the mental state of those it houses.
The event also hosted Dr Adrian James, Medical Director for Mental Health and Neurodiversity at NHS England. Dr James took part in a “fireside chat” discussion with Marsha McAdam, a Mental Health Advocate, Ambassador and Peer Consultant for the Centre for Mental Health. In this talk, Dr James addressed delegates and confirmed the news that the NHS England merger back into the Department of Health and Social Care would be targeting October 2026 for completion.
Awards evening
There was a lot to learn during the day, but the first evening then focused on acknowledging and rewarding those involved in mental health projects.
In total, there were 12 awards given in the evening's networking event, which had drinks and nibbles on offer.
The Building Better Healthcare team sponsored the “Project of the Year - Refurbishment” category. For which Editor, Sophie Bullimore, presented the award. Congratulations to the winners, Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust, for their One Central Park Community Hub.
The winners were all great projects, and delegates seemed to really enjoy the jubilant celebratory atmosphere of the evenings.
Building Better Healthcare also hosts an awards event in November to reward those innovating in the healthcare design and operation sector. Enter here!