Creating a Healing Environment

I am in Englewood Florida for the next three months at The 4^th Door Worship Arts Healing Center, the ministry center for art and healing that Steve and I started one year ago.  Last year we acquired the two commercial condos for the center and painted, tiled and carpeted the units.  For my creative project during my studies in Arts in Medicine, I am going to redesign The 4^th Door Worship Art Healing Center into a healing environment.  The elements I will be working with are natural sunlight, nature, healing gardens, indoor lighting, seating and healing art. 

The theme of the healing environment will be based from the scripture Revelation 22: 2,                          On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.

The center is 2000 square feet, mostly open space with some office rooms, backs the Gottfried Creek, has two outdoor enclosed balconies and six sliding glass doors. 

Some ideas I have for the design are:

Ø  Create two outdoor healing gardens utilizing the two enclosed balconies. 

Ø  Make hand painted sheer curtains allowing the natural sunlight through.  Theme- water for the river.

Ø  Healing artwork on the walls, possibly mosaics, leaves, fruit, music notes or art from the seminars we are having in February and March at the center.  Some clay sculptures indoor and outdoor.

Ø  Create a large tree of life, made out of pipes, clay, fabric and silk plants, like I described in my creative blog 1.

Ø  Bring in new indoor lighting to create more of healing atmosphere

Ø  Seating : some reclining type chairs, couches, that are comfortable and functional for the sick.

I have taken some pictures of the center to show what it looks like now, to show what we have to work with.  This is just the start of the ideas for the healing environment, I know as I start to create it and research out healing environments , more creative ideas will flow.