As you read this...how are you feeling? Stressed? Calm?
Now, take a look at the environment you're in. Could your location be swaying those feelings one way or the other?
The environment we're in can affect our mood, and for those who work with people overcoming trauma, creating a soothing space is crucial to improving mental health and finding healing.
This idea is known as trauma-informed design and it can include a number of features — natural light, using specific colors, rounded edges and utilizing nature — in support of the principles of trauma-informed care.
News 3 visited three locations in Hampton Roads that were designed in such a way.
CHKD Children's Pavilion
When you step off the elevator onto the 13th floor at the Children's Hospital of the King's Daughters Children's Pavilion, you're greeted with a floor-to-ceiling window looking out over the Elizabeth River and the Norfolk skyline.
CHKD opened the high-rise last year, but patients are just now coming onto this floor.
“We will have beds here available for children experiencing issues like autism or other developmental concerns that need an in-patient level of placement," said Anne Russell, CHKD's Clinical Care Supervisor.
On this floor, children — and sometimes, family members — might be staying awhile during treatment, and Russell says everything has been designed to help with healing and recovery.
Some areas are brightly colored. Others are more calming, with pale greens and blues. There's also a lot of natural light with nature accessible through the windows and on the roof.
It's all part of creating a space that's comfortable and safe, Russell says. A space that might not be guaranteed at home.
“We’re talking about really chaotic, unpredictable situations. Really big, sad, scary events that children go through and so we want to create spaces that help kids feel in control," she told News 3.
And when it can get to be a bit too much, the walls in the patient's rooms have texture that can be soothing to touch. There are also nooks built into the walls that patients and staff can use to find escape.
ForKids, Inc.
There's also a nook built into the wall at ForKids, Inc. in Chesapeake. It's in the front lobby, which is fronted with two stories of windows to let as much light in as possible.
“Every day, somebody walks into the space and they have this ‘aha!’ moment," said Thaler McCormick, the nonprofit's longtime CEO.
Just in the lobby, visitors will notice a lot of circles, from the decor on the walls to the lights above. Edges in the space are almost all rounded.
These features extend throughout the facility located in the South Norfolk neighborhood, which works with children and families, notably those who are struggling with homelessness.
When ForKids moved to Chesapeake two years ago, McCormick, who has a degree in architecture, says she worked closely with the designers to make sure the new space fit the needs of the people coming in.
“Many of the families we serve have had long, traumatic histories so we wanted this to be a place where they felt safe and where they felt like there was hope alive," she told News 3.
One example is the look of the shelter along Poindexter Street, which looks more like a typical urban apartment building. Inside, there's a focus on calm living spaces and classrooms.
“[The kids] don’t have a backyard right now, they don’t have a bedroom right now, so they come in and this (classroom) is their playroom," said Pelilani Gobel, a mental health specialist at ForKids. ”I have a 'Calm Room' over here that they can go in and decompress and do some mindfulness exercises. I can go and talk to them if something’s bothering them."
On the roof, ForKids keeps a fruit and vegetable garden for use in the kitchen.
"We have probably north of 500 plants in this building and the other thing we’ve deployed is art. We have now about 600 pieces of art throughout the building," said McCormick. “Probably the one place where we made an investment is we do have more windows in this building for natural light, but with that natural light, we use less electricity.”
Samaritan House "The Hallows" shelter
Natural light is a major part of the design of Samaritan House's new shelter in Virginia Beach called The Hallows.
Still under construction and scheduled to open in 2024, the building structure is up, with windows installed and paint on the walls.
Executive Director Robin Gauthier invited News 3 along as she checked on the progress. She pointed out the importance of color choices.
“Light blue, light greens, pales. (It) just is very relaxing," she said.
'Relaxing' is key because of the specific trauma experienced by the people who will be using the shelter.
Gauthier says it will house girls ages 11 to 17, who had been victims of sex trafficking. For some, the idea of freedom will be a new one.
“We want to make sure that we have lots of activities that are regulating and help them regulate their mood," said Gauthier, inside what will become the shelter's Recreation Room. "(We'll) probably have some swings in here, probably have some games, some things for them to do to soothe their traumatic experiences.”
That focus on soothing carries up the stairs to what will become the girls' bedrooms.
The second floor contains more natural light with views of the big yard outside. The color choices are also pale variations of green, blue and purple — the "cool" colors.
Features of trauma-informed design aren't exclusively helpful to those in active recovery from trauma, either. Thaler McCormick says the staff spaces at ForKids are designed to be calming too and she'd like to see more organizations do the same.
“The spaces where they deliver services and where their team works need to be spaces that support that work and have [the] ability to reduce stress and support both their client and their team," she said. "This is something everybody can do, and for us, it wasn’t a huge budget changer.”
Because when you're in the business of providing hope, a good start is providing the right space.
