Environment and Helaing

4.2 ENVIRONMENT AND HEALING

4.2.1 Healing

From a holistic standpoint, healing encompasses several aspects of health, including spiritual, psychological, emotional, physical, and social wellbeing (Figure 6). The process of healing concentrates on a person’s more significant degree of wellbeing. It takes passive therapies and personal commitments to help people develop or restore their self-incentivisation for emotional and physical wellbeing. (Lu 2014)

The definition of healing emphasises procedures of repair, regeneration, reintegration, and recovery that support both occupational, social, physical, mental, and spiritual health of a person and his welfare (Jonas et al. 2014). Archibald (2006) similarly emphasises how important tailoring the healing process to the individual is. Feeney (2009, 7) approaches the healing process to support that assertion with a statement that there are high chances that final true healing is a farfetched bliss. As a result, the actual healing should focus on assisting them in managing the effects of the events. To some, the concept of healing is demeaning since it implies that one should overcome what one has gone through (Feeney 2009). As a result, healing is a case-bycase process, meaning a community-based programme should concentrate on a simplified reaction that allows for personal expression. It is critical to emphasise individual recovery and the value of communal conversation in the healing process (Koolmatrie 2000). The same programmes have become subjects investigated across the United States and Canada (Archibald, 2006), with successful programmes focusing on the local backgrounds while developing therapeutic models to address localised behaviours (Feeney, 2009).

Figure 9. Program of Rehabilitation for Flood Victims. From Thao Nguyen Le, by Thao Nguyen Le, 2021. Copyright 2021 by Thao Nguyen Le.

4.2.2 Environment and Healing

People in anguish, faced with property loss and death due to natural catastrophes, prefer to seek a getaway from their daily routines to relieve stress. According to studies, environmental components and the healing process of those experiencing emotional pain strongly associate. The importance of “positive distraction”, which refers to a state that reduces pressure and aids healing, requires emphasis during the restoration phase to assist victims of natural catastrophes to regain mental stability (Lu 2014). Earlier research has suggested removing contextual elements that initiate trauma-related memories, such as enhancing design for improved navigation, more accessible entrance and departure, and shelter against PTSD-related symptoms (Gloembiewski, 2016). Loud noise, narrow routes, big crowd gatherings, and a lack of space can cause mental illnesses like PTSD. As a result, the current emphasis has moved to the importance of physical surroundings in the lives of individuals with mental illnesses. (Gharib et al. 2017)

4.2.3 Environmental Psychology

Roger Hart, an environmental psychologist from the University of New York City, addressed the link between humans and the environment in an Archiculture interview (Arbuckle Industries 2015). He proposed that an architect should be free of the notion that space is distinct from humans and that an environment directly influences human behaviour. One method to avoid the notion is to consider how the chosen settings can provide people with diverse options. In the conversation, Hart expands on how design can foster a better atmosphere by helping individuals to achieve what they need to achieve in their lives through design. He used the example of a daycare centre, where the physical environment encourages children to explore and play, allowing them to socialise and thrive. This conversation emphasises the significance of design that allows individuals to be more comprehensive and involved in their surroundings. Because housing settings may be a barrier to personal fulfilment when people have little control over crucial decisions in the housing process, allowing an individual to participate in the planning, design, and construction of their house gives the tenant a sense of control over the development of their unique living space and consequently promotes individual and societal wellbeing (Turner 1972, 241). Territorial control is essential to humans because it satisfies numerous fundamental human needs, including self-identity, excitement, security, and a sense of place (Lang 1987, 147). Having a private domain or a location in which one can withdraw and feel safe from the great outdoors is critical to one’s psychological wellbeing since it helps the individual physically and psychologically separate oneself from others and relax.