1 minute readAs the cliché goes, you can see a broken arm, indicating physical pain, but can’t as easily see the signs of someone struggling with mental illness.
For years, out of sight out of mind made it easier to ignore. Or worse yet, to sweep under the rug. Since the pandemic there has been a huge increase in the number of people struggling with mental health, and data from Mental Health America, the nation’s leading non-profit dedicated to helping people live mentally healthy lives, indicates that trend is not reversing. Their website features a free mental health screening test here: No matter the size or type of home, ancillary and secondary spaces provide some of the greatest opportunities to support mental well-being. Things like a drop zone where I can let my outside life drop and enter my sanctuary or safe zone. Making sure in some climates there’s a mudroom, more storage needs are not going away, so utilizing back pantries better. The relief that people feel, they don’t always have words for why, but they know physically when a space reduces chaos and clutter. The body keeps score. We feel chaos,” says Pourhassanian. She advocates getting interior design involved at the charrette level, to consider spaces from the inside out, the connections between floorplans and outdoor elevations, and how life happens there. Talking about mental health and well-being no longer carries a stigma. It’s a foundational domain of overall well-being. We often think of the built environment impacting our physical health. It’s equally important to take seriously the effect of the places and spaces we create have on mental health and well-being.
