Spirituality in Therapeutic Spaces: Perceptions of Spatiality, Trace, and Past Rituals Manifesting Present Occupation

Spaces for therapy and counseling are spaces whose physical characteristics transform into metaphysically changed feelings of transcendental reality and meaningful, spiritual overtones. For individuals who self-harm, therapeutic processes and associated interior spaces can be contemplative spaces, where they might develop interconnectedness with oneself and a sense of self-actualization. Therapeutic spaces can address high levels of anxiety and mitigate potential dissociation, which is when the individual is removed from a sense of aliveness, a sense of presence and immersion in the realm of sensory experience. This paper examined the perceptions of spatiality of individuals who self-harm and the interior encounters for which they were exposed. The data collection involved a series of semistructured interviews with mental health service users who self-harm, their careers, therapists/counselors, architects, and design experts/researchers. Also included was an examination of existing built therapeutic spaces. A series of findings revealed relationships between perceptions of spatiality and the spiritual dimensions of therapeutic environments. Based upon qualitative data, how individuals who self-harm experience particular connections between physical and psychological spaces, and how their interior space encounter is overlaid with inhabitation of past service users are presented. A discussion of sensory encounter and dissociation and the relationship between trace and spatial perception leads to a series of research-derived design recommendations to be used to develop supportive, therapeutic spaces delivering mental health services.