Healthcare « Therapeutic Landscapes Network

Labyrinths for Healthcare: Approach with Caution

May 29, 2015 | by Naomi Sachs

Labyrinth at St. Joseph Memorial Hospital. Photo by Clare Cooper Marcus

St. Joseph Memorial Hospital, Santa Rosa, CA. This labyrinth is appropriate for a healthcare setting since the walking route is relatively short (7-circuit); there are no overlooking windows, and vegetative screening ensures privacy; it is shaded; and a simple explanatory sign explains its use. Photo by Clare Cooper Marcus

This post might invite more invective or controversy than usual (which is usually none, so we’ll see), but it’s something important to discuss: Labyrinths are not always appropriate for healthcare gardens. When they are used, they need to be sited and designed to best benefit garden users. Clare Cooper Marcus and I discuss this issue in our book Therapeutic Landscapes: An Evidence-Based Approach to Designing Healing Gardens and Restorative Outdoor Spaces and some of the text below is excerpted from Chapter 6 (p. 78).

Please understand: I have nothing against labyrinths per se. In fact, in the right place and context, I think they are wonderful and I very much enjoy walking them. The TLN has a page on labyrinths. In our chapter on Gardens for Veterans and Active Duty Personnel, we discuss how labyrinths are used in the therapeutic process (p. 210-211).

First, what is a labyrinth?
The classical labyrinth consists of a continuous path that winds in circles into a center and out again. This basic form dates from antiquity and is intended for contemplative walking. A labyrinth is sometimes erroneously referred to as a maze, which consists of a complex system of pathways between tall hedges, with the purpose of getting people lost. The aim of a maze is playful diversion, whereas the aim of the labyrinth was, and is, to offer the user a walking path of quiet reflection. See this earlier TLN Blog post for more on the distinction between labyrinths and mazes.

Labyrinth at St. Paul’s Anglican Church, Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada

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Therapeutic Landscape Colloborations Forum

September 30, 2013 | by Naomi Sachs

Harvey Zarren Healing Gardens at North Shore Medical Center’s Union Hospital, Lynn, MA

October 17 forum on evidenced-based design

What distinguishes a garden from a healing garden? The main difference is the way in which a healing or therapeutic garden caters to its targeted users such as cancer, rehabilitation, psychiatric, or eldercare patients.

At an upcoming forum at Union Hospital in Lynn, Mass., designers, researchers, and healthcare providers will gather to discuss landscapes in healthcare settings that promote health and well-being. “Therapeutic Landscape Collaborations: Successful Evidence-Based Design” will take place October 17, 9 am -12:30 pm, at the North Shore Medical Center’s Union Hospital.

This presentation pairs healthcare providers, researchers and designers that focus on creating healing spaces and restorative landscapes to promote health and well-being. The experts include physicians, therapists, designers, architects and landscape architects whom will demonstrate down to the cellular level why gardens heal, and explore how different aspects to a healing garden can promote healing in different user groups. Examples of healing gardens will be shown and participants will tour the Dr. Harvey Zarren Healing Garden at the site as a case study. The program is sponsored jointly by The Landscape Institute and The Underground in cooperation with the North Shore Medical Centers Plant Operations Department.

Panelists include Harvey Zarren, M.D., F.A.C.C; Christine Wojnar, Feng Shui Institute of American; Elizabeth Ericson, FAIA, LEED AP; Deborah Gaw, Owner, Garden Scapes Landscape Design; Lisa Bailey, ASLA, Bayleaf Studio; David Jay, ASLA, LEED AP, O+M Weinmayer/Jay Associates; and Anna Pelosi, Lead HRO, NSMC Inpatient Psychiatry Services and Manager of Patient and Family Relations Department.

To learn more about the October 17 forum and to register, send an email to pce@the-bac.edu or visit http://the-bac.edu/news-and-events/events/therapeutic-landscape-collaborations-2013.

To learn more about the Harvey Zarren Healing Garden, visit the NSMC website – you can link from there to a nice photo gallery.

HEALTHCARE DESIGN 2013 early bird registration ends 5/10!

May 9, 2013 | by Naomi Sachs

Nova Southeastern University Medicinal & Healing Garden, Orlando, Florida.
Photo from www.jessedurko.com/novahealinggarden.html

Register now and save big!

The annual HEALTHCARE DESIGN Conference in Orlando, Florida this fall is months away, but the opportunity to save significantly on the registration fee is coming to a close. Friday, May 10 is the last day to receive the “super saver” conference rate for the event that takes place November 16-19, 2013.

The premier conference is devoted to the design of responsibly built environments and how such settings directly impact the safety, operation, clinical outcomes, and financial success of healthcare facilities. Attendees come from many disciplines and different levels of professional experience including architecture, interior design, facilities management, academia, clinical care, product developers, service providers, and researchers, to name just a few.

Register for the conference, check out the packed agenda, and learn about the exhibitors.

Clare Cooper Marcus and I will be there (with our new book!) for the TAMU First Look Colloquium speaking about “Therapeutic Landscapes: Tools for Successful Design and Outcomes.” I’ll post more about what other specific educations sessions our TLN members might be interested in.

For more information on the Nova Southeastern University Medicinal & Healing Garden in Orlando see this article from the Sun Sentinel. The photo is from http://www.jessedurko.com/novahealinggarden.html.