WRITTEN STATEMENT DRAFT

ENDS-3271
ELIJAH TUMUSIIME
2018-B081-10026

Exploring healing landscapes and the poetics of nature.

According to health ministry and Uganda Counselling Association figures from 2019,
an estimated 14 million Ugandans suffer from a mental disease (New Vision, 2022).
This indicates that around 35 out of every 100 Ugandans you meet on a daily basis
may be suffering from a mental health condition.

Our mental health has a significant impact on our overall quality of life. So it stands
to reason that mental health, like physical health, requires attention and maintenance.
And one way to keep it going is to cultivate a feeling of community.

Community may be defined in a variety of ways, but when boiled down to its most
basic component, community is all about connection. Community is a feeling, not
merely an entity or a group of individuals. It is feeling connected to people, accepted
for who you are, and supported. A connection may make us feel needed and
appreciated.

The design of mental health facilities is an important aspect of patient care. The
architecture of mental health institutions influences how services are offered and how
efficiently they are delivered. The psychological influence of mental health facility
design on its users is as vital as, if not more crucial than, its direct operational impact.
Patients' ideas, expectations, and impressions about themselves, the personnel who
care for them, the services they get, and the wider health care system in which those
services are supplied are influenced by facility design. Furthermore, facility design
can have an influence on staff beliefs, attitudes, and behaviours, as well as how
personnel identify and engage with patients and the surroundings.

The influence of mental health and other health care surroundings on users happens
at several levels, including architectural, landscape, and interior design. The
architectural level contains exterior facility elements, which serve as a user's first
encounter with the facility and influence first perceptions and expectations. The
landscape and the degree of visible and physical access to nature included into the
design are also considered. The internal architectural environment, including the size,
arrangement, and arrangement of space, is also included at the architectural level.
Furniture, flooring, wall color, texture, and other aesthetic characteristics are all part
of the interior design level.

Consequently, the FINE-MINDS centre represents a revised strategy and philosophy

for constructing a mental health facility based on hope, healing, and recovery.
 WRITTEN STATEMENT DRAFT
ENDS-3271
ELIJAH TUMUSIIME
2018-B081-10026

Reference List;

DuBose. J., MacAllister. L., Hadi. K., and Skallars. B., 2018, ‘Exploring the Concept of
Healing Spaces’, Health Environments Research & Design Journal, Vol. 11, No.1, pp
43-56.

Design Guide for the Built Environment of Behavioral Health Facilities, distributed
by the National Association of Psychiatric Health Systems
http://www.naphs.org.

Fezi, B., 2021, ’Health Engaged Architecture in the Context of COVID-19’, Journal of
Green Building, Vol. 15, No. 2, pp 185-212.

Karlin, B. E., & Zeiss, R. A. (2006) Environmental and therapeutic issues in psychiatric
hospital design: Toward best practices. Psychiatric Services, 57, 1376-1378.