Raodmap to Seclusion Manual_Module 5.indd - Samhsa ...

Roadmap to Seclusion and Restraint Free Mental Health Services
The arts can serve as a vehicle for creative self-expression, social change, and personal
empowerment. They enable people who have been labeled with stigmatizing diagnoses to
convey their personal experiences of madness and recovery to others. Arts can be used as a
means of self-healing and spiritual growth—for connecting mind, body, and spirit. The ability
to experiment and explore one’s inner self through a variety of mediums helps to build
self-confi dence and self-worth.
The mental health system is beginning to recognize the importance of art. Art therapy has
been a part of the hospital environment, but many art therapists have been interpreters of art
instead of helpful art instructors. A self-help approach to art encourages consumers to do their
work without being scrutinized for pathology. Artists must feel that anything they create is
acceptable. There are many modalities that can be used in recovery through the arts including
journal writing, poetry, music, and alternative healing methods.
Susan Spaniol, arts professor at Lesley College in Massachusetts, writes extensively on the
subject of art therapy. Her Web site is www.lesley.edu/faculty/estrella/spaniol.html.
Comfort Rooms
Our environment impacts our mood and behavior. Health care has been using the concept of
“comfort rooms” in a variety of settings for many years. For example, some hospitals have
special rooms for family members while they are waiting for their loved ones during surgery.
Often, oncology units have rooms furnished with couches, fi sh tanks, and reading materials.
Birthing centers market a “home-like atmosphere.” The Mayo Clinic even has a room fi lled
with reclining chairs and soft lighting for consumers and families to use at their leisure.
Most inpatient psychiatric facilities do not convey a warm and welcoming environment. The
walls are often stark white with few home-like decorations. The sparse furnishings are often
outdated.
Gayle Bluebird has used her innovative work in using comfort rooms as a preventive tool to
reduce the need for seclusion and restraint at Atlantic Shores Hospital in Florida. Comfort
rooms were one part of an overall task force plan that successfully reduced the use of seclusion
and restraints. Gayle Bluebird originally developed the material on comfort rooms.
Please give her credit as you are presenting this material.
As people diagnosed with mental illnesses are empowered in their recovery process, we must
listen to what they have to say about their surroundings and environment. We as staff, get to
go home to our own “comfort rooms” at the end of the shift. Let’s provide the same opportunities
for the people we serve.
Module 5 Strategies to Prevent Seclusion and Restraint
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BACKGROUND