Special Touches Promote Healing Inside the Behavioral Health & Wellness Center
The Behavioral Health & Wellness Center at Children’s Nebraska is full of special elements that promote hope and healing in challenging times. Watch to see how this state-of-the-art center uses thoughtful design to create an environment that encourages calm and comfort, helping our expert team improve pediatric mental and behavioral healthcare for kids and families across the region.
Learn more at ChildrensNebraska.org/NewEra.
#BelieveInBetter #MentalHealthAwarenessMonth
[Video Transcript]
KRISTIN PIERCE: Working in this building is amazing. Not only do you have the staff. The environment here is is different than anything else I’ve ever experienced.
JENNA MULLENDORE: I think it’s very intentional in the way it’s designed, because they have a lot of what I’d say more calming and cool, intentional, like paint colors, decorations on the walls, things like that.
MEGHAN WITTE: The lights, they go with circadian rhythm. So as we wake up, they start to brighten. They also love like the giant windows in here being able to see outside.
KRISTIN PIERCE: I’ve had someone say, wow, my depression was really like gotten a lot better today because I realize that I can open these lines and I can sit here and and look outside and have the sun soak in.
MEGHAN WITTE: They love the comfort room with the echoing panel, the beanbag, the lights changing, even the wall kind of looks like when you have the blue light it looks like an ocean floor. And so you honestly use that a lot in therapy of like visualizing a calming space.
JENNA MULLENDORE: I also think they really like the gym. They like the opportunity to get off of the unit and to explore other areas just so they can move a little bit more, get some movement.
MEGHAN WITTE: I honestly really love the furniture. It’s such a like like when I sit in the chairs in the group room, it’s like they’re giving me a hug.
JENNA MULLENDORE: In the eating disorder unit. We have the egg chair. That’s a big one. People love that chair because it’s almost like soundproof. Like you can tune out a little bit of the things outside of you.
KRISTIN PIERCE: The reading nooks, the the areas on the wall or like in their room that they have, like the bench that they can, like, look outside, I’ll say. I mean, kids will sleep on that bench from time to time.
MEGHAN WITTE: The most important thing is the people that create the building, because at the end of the day, the building is a building, but the people that are in it make it what it is.