Nature is part of the therapy program at the Ohana Center for Child and Adolescent Behavioral Health in Monterey, California.
Photographer: Ty ColeHow Design Promotes Better Mental Health for Children
A clinic designed by NBBJ to incorporate light and nature is part of a sea change in the way that psychiatrists approach children’s behavioral health.
Bloomberg News has won the 2025 Pulitzer Prize for Criticism, with a collection of essays for Bloomberg CityLab by contributor Alexandra Lange. Read the series here.
On film, mental health facilities designed for children are too often pale and plastic. Think of the linoleum-floored corridors of Girl, Interrupted, the institutional green trim of It’s Kind of a Funny Story. Behavioral clinics for youth are aggressive in their lack (of color, of amenity, of detail), underlining patients’ separation from the outside world by aesthetically aligning mental health treatment with medical intervention. Fluorescent lights, the sound of a turning lock, barriers to entry, barriers to exit.