MEDITATION HEALING RETREAT

by Ella Reed

The design brief proposes a meditation healing retreat centre for the purpose of benefitting the mental health of the people of Hackney, Tower Hamlets and London as a whole community. Guests will be referred to stay at the centre for a period of time through the NHS or CAHMS (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services) network and will have the opportunity to learn mindfulness and meditation as a non-traditional means to manage mental health issues such as depression and anxiety. The aim for this centre is to remove the stigma around mental health and to educate people about how they can change their life for the better without the need for expensive therapeutic treatment and medications. This type of building intervention can be particularly useful in communities such as Hackney as there is one of the highest rates of mental illness in adults in Hackney compared to other London boroughs.