By Mercedes Quintanilla

The WELL building Standard is a metric for buildings and organizations to deliver environments that enhance the occupant’s health and well-being. The standard includes 10 concepts, this time I’m going to go over the Mind concept.

Goal

The WELL Mind concept supports emotional and cognitive health through design, technology and strategies.

Background

• Mental health is a fundamental component of human health at all stages of life and is vital to the physical and social well-being of all individuals, communities and societies.
• Mental health is not simply the absence of a mental health condition.
• Mental health is determined by a series of socioeconomic, biological and social factors.
• About two-thirds of people who experience common mental health conditions are employed.
• The impact of mental health in the workplace is profound, with depression and anxiety alone costing the global economy an estimated $1 trillion due to lost productivity.
• In high-income countries, between 35% and 50% of people living with mental health problems do not receive medical care or treatment.
• This gap is widening in low- and middle-income countries, where between 76% and 85% of people living with mental health problems do not receive the necessary treatment.
• Mental and physical health impact each other in some of the most common chronic diseases, such as HIV, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes.
• The built environment serves as a powerful tool to help mitigate these adverse mental health outcomes through policy, program, and design.

Requirements.

1. Promote Mental Health and Wellness: Projects must provide programs, policies, and resources that support and promote the mental health of occupants.
2. Nature and space; Nature must be integrated throughout the project, as well as design strategies that celebrate the project’s unique identity and inspire human delight.
3. Offer Mental Health: Mental health services are available at no cost and include at a minimum clinical screening or referral to licensed mental health professionals and support resources, patient treatment, prescription drug coverage, and confidentiality.
4. Education: Managing mental health and personal wellness, covering topics such as developing mentally healthy habits and self-care practices, fostering relationships and social connections, and managing mental health at work.
5. Stress management: The stress within the organization must be evaluated and a plan must be created to relieve or modify the sources of stress.
6. Restorative Opportunities: Work recovery should be supported and a healthy work-life balance encouraged by providing opportunities for rest and sufficient paid time off.
7. Restorative spaces: The project must provide places that promote restorative spaces and encourage the relief of mental fatigue and stress.
8. Restorative Programming: Projects are required to develop ongoing programming for occupants to focus on relaxation and full restoration.
9. Provide access to nature indoors and outdoors.
10. Provide smoking cessation resources: Focused on increasing or enhancing motivation or action to quit, includes incentives or rewards.
11. Provide Substance Use Education: Projects to outline policies related to drug and alcohol use in the workplace.

References

– IWBI. (s.f.). International WELL Building Institute. WEEL-IWBI. Retrieved July 5, 2022, from https://www.wellcertified.com/

– M. (2021, December 28). What is the WELL Building Standard. WELL Certification | ITG WELL. ITG Market Partner WELL in Spain. Retrieved July 4, 2022, from https://wellservices.itg.es/certificado-well/