RESEARCH AND PUBLICATIONS
Barbara has published book on Healing Environments providing evidence and understanding to how the built environment affects the healing process. These books can be found on Amazon, design studios across the country and college classrooms around the world.
The book introduces dementia interventions by first addressing caring for the caregiver and then moving to the chapters by the intervention category, such as places and destinations, and triggers that cause interventions. The alchemy of home address the concept of home, how to find it, and bringing those elements to your person. Furnishing matters and can be a powerful intervention to keep your loved one safe and satisfied. Light and color are critical to maintaining our bio clock. Technology for dementia shares available resources and creative workarounds for caregivers. The chapter on nature shares numerous interventions you, the caregiver, and your love will enjoy together. Finally, the senses are the emotional link between you and your person’s right brain.
Taming the Chaos of Dementia is a blend of simple interventions as seen through the eyes of both design and practicality. The Why factor, the science, is critical for understanding and explains why these intervention works. These are presented for home caregivers as tools to embrace with their person. And finally, these interventions are paired with personal human stories that both authors share in common. This work is a human story, backed by science and presented as a valuable guidebook for all the family caregivers struggling on the dementia journey.
I'm please to announce that my new book Taming the Chaos of Dementia is in production and will be available Novemember 2023.
Soon to be published in 2023
This book supports the journey—taken by both the caregiver and the person with dementia—providing loved ones with practical recommendations based on evidence and enriched with human empathy. Recommendations helps ease the burden of stress by offering design interventions and non-pharmaceutical therapeutic suggestions. It helps decode dementia's visceral world and supports non-cognitive human experiences.
Real stories from the journeys of authentic people who struggled to survive the chaos and challenges driven by dementia. I've paired these accounts with practical examples of design interventions that target the miseries of disruptive behaviors, environmental triggers, and factors that induce them.
Suggested interventions are evidence-based and explores options in human engagement, the experience of destinations, positive distractions, familiar settings, furnishings, light, color, technology, nature, and the emotion of the senses. The book shows design interventions really can support the family caregivers in functional and emotional outcomes.
I survived three challenging years of dementia caregiving, further surviving a heart attack, stress, sleepless nights, and being overwhelmed with caregiving tasks; I asked myself, "Do all caregivers of dementia go through similar journeys? Do they need to?" I am suggesting we consider adding human-centric design interventions as a powerful tool to improve the quality of life for people with dementia. This is the journey I share with you.
by Barbara J. Huelat
Impact of Healing Environments What’s the Proof? :
Barbara Huelat is the author behind Healing Environments: What’s the Proof. She is a designer, author, strategist, leader and teacher. Her work bridges the art and science of healing as a human experience. This is her second book. It is a sequel to her first. Published in 2007 and second printing in 2015.
“I wrote this second book to add badly needed evidence in support of Healing Environment principles keeping human needs at the core. ” Barbara J Huelat, Healing Design
• Created a body of evidence to support value and evidence for healing environments
• Use as a guide and checklist for hospitals, universities and medical institutions
• Used as a text for interior design education
• Used as text for AAHID’s exam study guide
• Used in support of design and construction throughout the world
• Used as a reference for architecture and design studios throughout the world
• Lead to numerous lecturers, conference presentations, workshops and symposiums
Overview: Healing Environments What s the Proof? Americans believe when they become sick, diseased or injured, they need medical attention to be cured. We have long associated curing with healing; believing that to be cured is to be healed. It is our expectation that medical facilities are healing environments.
However, are they? Can a place heal? Can it be proved? Healing environments, continue to be defined and with new qualities including safety, security, accessibility, sustainable and now evidence-based design . Evidence-based design has become the new design tool of choice. Barriers can be mitigated, allowing elements such as better lighting, art programs and even water features to be specified with evidence that these amenities can actually improve patient outcomes.
Evidence-based design, like evidence-based medicine has the power to move design to a new level of understanding and value. This book provides defining evidence that supports the latest scientific proof regarding the power of healing environments.
by Barbara J. Huelat
Impact of Healing Environments Design for the Body, Mind and Spirit:
Barbra Huelat’s first book and grew out of a lecture series to define 10 core principles of Healing Environments. Her students begged her to put these concepts in print – so she did. 1st printing in 2003.
“I felt the need to help clarify and quantify hard fast principles and not just fuzzy buzz words to describe what a healing environment really is and how to achieve one.”
Created a standard of definition to describe elements of a healing environment
• Use as a guide and checklist for hospitals, universities and medical institutions
• Used as a text for interior design education
• Used as text for AAHID’s exam study guide
• Basis for the Chinese translation of Healing Environments – Chinese
• Lead to numerous lecturers, conference presentations, workshops and symposiums
Do people heal faster if they’re comfortable? Environments can heal, but they can also harm. By designing with an eye towards the body, mind and spirit, we can create environments that promote healing and inner peace. “Creating Healing Environments Design for the Body, Mind & Spirit,” offers practical advise for those seeking to create healing places.
Body-mind medicine enjoys exceptional popularity today as the aging population looks for ways to conquer illness. This book addresses current healthcare philosophies with holistic recommendations typicall overlooked in traditional medicine. This is not about modern miracles in medicine, but about the human side of healing – how people survive hostile places by immersing themselves in the positive pleasures of being human.
“Creating Healing Environments for the Body, Mind and Spirit,” explores environments that promote healing for all three aspects of life. Healing environments embrace the spirit found in nature and in our God as experienced through the celebration of life.
by Barbara Huelat
Impact of Chinese Healing Environment Book:
• First and second printing distributed within universities and medical centers in Taiwan and South East Asia
• It has become the university textbook at Tunghai University in the department of Healing Design and Research, Taichung, Taiwan
• Healing Environment Principles adapted from this book became standards for design and construction of the new National Cancer Center in Taipei.
• Book has been used as healing design criteria at National University in Taipei, Taichung Veterans General Hospital and the Geriatric hospital in Taichung.
• Book has led to invitations for Barbara Huelat to speak, lecture, develop workshops and collaborate at universities, medical centers and conferences on various Healing Environment topics
Internationally acclaimed. This book was the collaborative work with Dr. Thomas Wan and Barbara Huelat to publish a Chinese (Healing Environments) edition. Dr Wan understood the need for these concepts in Southeast Asia and was instrumental in getting Ms. Huelat’s books translated and published. First published 2003 was extremely successful which led to a new contract and second printing 2019 by WuNan Publishing, Taiwan. Book is a Chinese translation from” Healing Environments: Design for the Body, Mind & Spirit” 1st edition 2003 was originally published in English.
Stay updated on our news and events! Sign up to receive our newsletter.
