Design and psychology at The Recovery Centre
Last month, Emma travelled to Edinburgh to offer her support in refreshing the interior spaces for The Recovery Centre. Since opening its doors in 2006, Kelling Designs has been instrumental in creating unique, calming and positive environments for The Recovery Centre and its clients. TRC focuses on helping people of all ages recover from their mental health challenges, with offices in London, Edinburgh and Riyadh.
For Michelle Scott, the Clinical Manager at TRC Edinburgh, thoughtful, soothing interiors are vital for creating an atmosphere that helps her patients recover. “Taking care of the environment and attention to thoughtful details provides containment,” she says, “and this can often be referred to as Therapeutic Milieu.”
Emma’s remit was to provide a calm space so that clients feel safe to express their feelings, helping staff to support the regulation of their overstimulated nervous systems. By using bold shapes and cheerful colours and textures, Emma created a series of spaces that turned the notion of a clinical setting for patient sessions on its head. Instead, the atmosphere in the treatment rooms is empowering, positive and encouraging.
With comfortable sofas, layered throws and cushions, soft rugs and striking artwork and house plants, Emma’s work brings a wholly residential feel to TRC. Thoughtful accessories like coffee table books, lamps and vases gives each room a sense of welcome to give patients the feeling of being at home, or in the living room of a trusted friend.
Emma’s work at TRC serves to prove that your surroundings have an immeasurable impact on your well-being. But, beyond creating a space in which you feel safe, rested and comfortable, it’s important to develop techniques to support your mental health from the inside, out. Emma spoke with Edinburgh-based Psychotherapist, Robyn Spice, to compile some top tips to share with you all for managing your mental health:
• Reach out - Connection is so powerful. Whether it is a conversation with a loved one or reaching out to a mental health professional, being vulnerable and sharing your struggle is such an important part of looking after your mental health.
• Identify sources of stress - When you identify where your stress is coming from you can take steps towards managing your stressors. This could include setting boundaries, practicing relaxation techniques, or seeking support from friends, family, or a therapist.
• Find your joy - It is okay to engage in activities that bring you joy. In today’s society, we are constantly pressured to be productive, so try and make time for the things that ‘fill your cup.’ This might be a creative task, something that takes you out into nature or catching up with a friend.
• Practice the skill of breathing - Of course, we can all breathe, but maybe this is your sign to practice it a little differently. Diagrammatic breathing emphasises proper Oxygen/Carbon Dioxide exchange. This helps facilitate the downregulation of your nervous system to make you feel more relaxed.
