Boundary Brook House Opening

Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust (OBMH) marked the re-opening of Boundary Brook House, formerly Park Hospital, on Wednesday 26th November 2008.

Boundary Brook House has been transformed into a modern, fit for purpose centre providing mental health and learning disability services for children, young people and their families living in Oxfordshire.

Key to the refurbishment was the involvement of the Oxfordshire Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) Young People’s Advisory Panel. The young people were trained by architects in order to gain the skills and tools they needed to contribute to the re-design.

The young people worked with GBS Architects, based in Oxford, and Chris Tipping, an artist, to research and design the waiting and reception areas. The theme was water and nature which has been reflected in the floor design.

Nadia, 13, a member of the Young People’s Panel, said about the whole experience, “Instead of children listening to the adults, the adults listened to us. This whole experience taught me that children can have massive responsibility like this and that I can trust adults with my ideas.”

On seeing the results for the first time, Nadia said, “It’s amazing! Like a dream come true. It’s hard to believe this is what we’ve done.”

The unit was officially opened by Janet Godden, Chair of OBMH, who cut the ribbon then invited the young people involved in the design to be the first to walk over the threshold. Following this, a wall hanging was unveiled with the names of all the young people who helped the project.

Photo Caption: Dr Rosie Shepperd, Yvonne Taylor and Julie Waldron present Nadia with a token of thanks for her help with the project.