Thursday 21st March 2019
Designing for student
mental health & wellbeing
Venue: RICS, Great George Street, London, SW1P 3AD
Time; 7.45 - 10.15am
The stigma around talking about our mental health and wellbeing is ever receding, however the incidence of its occurrences appears to be continually on the rise. Mental health problems are as common among students as they are in the general population. Every school is now required to have a mental health lead and almost all universities and colleges offer some kind of welfare support. Yet with all this awareness how much consideration has been given to the design of our education spaces to support our mental health and wellbeing.
Come and join us for a joint Healthcare & Education Construction Network breakfast event where our expert panel will discuss:
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What is it that we are dealing with?
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How can the design of our education spaces impact on our mental health and wellbeing?
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What spaces should we be providing to support our mental health and wellbeing?
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How do we go about designing effective CAMHS environments?
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How can we support the successful reintegration back into a mainstream environment through the design of our spaces?
Speakers
David Beeney
Breaking the Silence
David Beeney, has over 35 years’ experience of working in a corporate environment and for over 30 of those years knew what it was like to suffer in silence with a mental health issue. David is also an experienced, qualified mental health counsellor for Mind and has been trained in the core conditions required to grow a person’s wellbeing.
As a counsellor, he has listened to scores of clients sharing their stories of discrimination in the work place.
Breaking the Silence was founded by David for two prime reasons. Firstly, to encourage more people in the workplace to talk about mental health. The stigma is primarily the ‘wall of silence’ that surrounds anyone with a mental health issue compared to those who suffer with a physical health problem. David and his team work with senior leaders, HR teams and line managers to create stigma free environments.
Secondly, by sharing his story, David inspires employees who are suffering in silence to speak out and seek help for the first time. His story resonates with people from the boardroom all the way through the company as the stigma prevents employees at all levels from being able to talk about how they are really feeling.
Mark Rowe
Penoyre & Prasad
A Partner since 2012, Mark is the embodiment of the Penoyre & Prasad ethos, thanks to the creativity and integrity that define the projects he leads. It’s down to his broad and layered architectural experience, which spans a wide spectrum of complex projects from landmark healthcare buildings and mixed-use/residential developments to financial headquarters, schools and retail.
Keen to share his experience and knowledge, Mark teaches and examines at both the University of Westminster and the London Metropolitan University. He also works as a certified Quality Indicator (DQI) Facilitator and has accepted invitations to speak at a variety of conferences across the world from Canada to China.
He has recently finished a building for the Anna Freud Centre, the children’s mental health charity. It will include clinical (talking therapy) spaces for outpatients, a short-stay school for children with mental health issues on the edge of exclusion from mainstream education as well as research and office facilities.
Wendy de Silva
IBI Group
Wendy is the lead for mental health projects at the IBI Group. She has over 25 years experience as a healthcare architect and had developed a particular expertise in designing mental health facilities and other buildings which support community well being.
She enjoys developing, researching and sharing information on best practice in this field with others and has spoken on the subject at national and international conferences. Projects she has worked on have been recognised with awards including the BBH Grand Prix, Best Mental Health Project and the DIMHN project of the year award.
Paul Turpin
IBI Group
Paul’s experience covers many sectors. He has successfully developed a large portfolio of experience across all of the education strands, including nursery, primary, secondary, FE and HE sectors, and in new build and refurbishment/remodelling.
His current role is fairly broad, working across IBI’s core sectors which are education, healthcare and residential, to help develop a dynamic approach to placemaking.
Paul is an RIBA Registered Client Advisor and a qualified DQI Facilitator. He actively supports a variety of education establishments across the age ranges, including STEM Ambassador for Kent and Medway and a member of the Industry Consultative Committee at the University of West London.
