Behavioral Health Design Guide

The Behavioral Health Design Guide addresses the built environment for adult inpatient behavioral health care units. Co-authored by James M. Hunt, AIA, NCARB; David M. Sine, ARM, CSP, CPHRM; and Kimberly N. McMurray, AIA, EDAC, MBA; it can be downloaded from the Behavioral Health Facility Consulting website.

Baseline, or fundamental, requirements for designing behavioral health facilities appear in the FGI Guidelines for Design and Construction documents. The Design Guide provides much more detail and best practices for protecting patients and staff as identified through the authors’ years of practice in the field.

The Design Guide does not discuss the additional concerns that must be addressed when designing behavioral health facilities for child and adolescent patients, patients with medical care needs, geriatric patients, or some patients with diagnoses such as substance abuse and eating disorders.

Information is included about products that have been found to be more safe for use in the behavioral health built environment, while recognizing that no product is entirely without risk.

The Design Guide is not intended as a replacement for regulatory requirements nor to be employed as a legal “standard of care.” Its content is provided to augment the fundamental design requirements for behavioral health facilities and to help providers and design teams develop physical environments that support safe and effective behavioral health services.

The Design Guide is updated periodically. Please visit the Behavioral Health Facility Consulting website occasionally to make sure you are referring to the most current edition.

More information about the design of behavioral health facilities can be found in the FGI white paper “Common Mistakes in Designing Psychiatric Hospitals” by the same authors. This paper is available in the FGI Resources library and may also be dowloaded below:

Common Mistakes in Designing Psychiatric Hospitals