Using the whole environment (2)
Bear with us; all this is new material and just being uploaded; it takes time....
A lot of ground to cover (2)
In the phrase 'a psychologically informed environment', that single word 'environment' has a lot of ground to cover. In part one of this double issue page (HERE) , we were looking at how we use the buildings we use - for those that do work primarily in a service with its own building.
Here, by contrast, we will be looking primarily at the ways we can use - for those that do - the surrounding environment, and community networks.
Using spaces
When the phrase was first coined, the environments we mainly thought of were the buildings in which we work. Even then, it was clear that networks of buildings, linked by the work of a project, should also qualify as aspects or examples of more sophisticated uses of buildings and space; and there were issues of location - just how accessible is the professional and peer support, in a Clubhouse or hub-and-spoke network?
But we found that many services also consciously used the surrounding environment to very good effect; and
In some cases, such as in eco-therapy, the environment outside a building was the essential ingredient in their work; and pets, gardens, wildlife, even (it seems) insects, can play a role in helping a feeling of connection and belonging; and having a useful role..
But when it comes to outreach work, it is just the surrounding environment that you will have to work in. But you may still enrich and free up the meaning of that environment by introducing firstly more constructive offers and relationships; and later, new pathways. As one perceptive blogger noted, even a ride in a car is a new environment, and new things can happen there.
Further reading
Let's now try this section covering a long line of text to see if it de-gremlins..
Using the whole environment
Paula Corcoran on (audio) 'creative use of the surrounding environment' : HERE
Supporting sex workers - the GAP project : HERE
Bus, tram, unicorn - Why my car is a psychologically informed environment : HERE
Trauma-informed design, and working with the built environment : HERE
PIEs case studies – a selection of new and used material
NB: this collection of pages, and selection of examples, is incomplete. We are constantly gathering new material; and these links and this material will be built up in stages, and sometimes revised.
You will very likely find it more useful to scan the list by theme, with specific sub-sections, in which this same selection is re-shuffled and each individual example appears - with sometimes more additional examples - under one or (often several) more useful headings.
NB: for a similar approach (and inevitably some overlapping material) see also: Recently added, in the Library : HERE
But the most relevant themes here are probably: