WHAT WE DO

We don’t design buildings. We design human eXperiences.

Common misconceptions in behavioral healthcare are that programs aren’t profitable, one-size safety solutions work, and safe buildings can’t be beautiful. After years of working within behavioral health, we founded human eXperience in response to these misconceptions. Where others saw problems, we saw opportunities to advocate for better behavioral healthcare outcomes. We can achieve improved patient safety, preserve the dignity of healing, and create profitable programs if we are strategic, empathetic, and human.

We help clients develop and adapt service lines that meet the needs of their community long before they are ready to hire an architect. Effective operational master planning as part in advance of a design project sets the program up to be successful beyond the opening of the building.

Improving the human eXperience in Behavioral Healthcare

The design and flow of a building influence more than efficiency and utilization. Science tells us that the built environment around us has a powerful effect on our experiences—including how we think, feel, and act. At human eXperience, we believe we can optimize and elevate human eXperiences, even ordinary day-to-day ones, through design thinking. Behavioral health is at the heart of all that we do. We see ourselves as a behavioral health firm that does architecture, as opposed to an architecture firm that does behavioral health. We are committed to building empathetic eXperiences that are focused on people—not the building.
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Our Services

Our unique approach combines design and operations within behavioral healthcare, focusing on creating human eXperiences rather than just designing buildings. We work closely with clients to visualize their ideal operational program and design spaces that support program flow and patient well-being through light, color, and texture. Throughout the project, we consider patient population, program characteristics, financial objectives, and regulatory requirements to achieve successful outcomes.

Whether we lead, or are a part of a bigger team, at human eXperience, we believe patients deserve beautiful therapeutic places of healing where ligature-resistant products are selected based on patient needs. We work to keep the focus on people and their needs rather than the building itself. We also collaborate with hospital administrators to anticipate potential problems, avoid unnecessary risks, and offer solutions to ensure staff safety and patient care.

Behavioral healthcare is not just challenging as a construction project. It also brings critical operational drivers: tight margins, staffing challenges, ongoing maintenance. We are uniquely positioned to help you manage your construction budget and keep a close eye on your ongoing operational budget which will be your largest expense over the life of the building. 
ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN
We don't design buildings. We design human eXperiences.
  • Create psychiatric inpatient units, psychiatric emergency departments, behavioral health urgent care/ crisis stabilization, facility-based crisis, PHP/IOP, and mental health outpatient units 
  • Perform operational best practices for safe and efficient flow and optimal space utilization
  • Produce architectural design on unit renovations or new buildings to support the organization’s vision, patient and employee safety, staffing issues and efficiencies, unit flow, and financial objectives 
OPERATIONAL & BUSINESS PLANNING
It’s not about the building. It’s about the people.
  • Volume analysis for admission processes and flow
  • Identification of system barriers
  • Marketing and business development
  • Net revenue enhancement strategies related to managed care contracting, denials management, and payer mix
  • Expense line analysis including staffing, contract services, professional fees, and worker’s compensation vulnerabilities
  • Clinical programming development to support regulatory requirements, patient population treatment needs, and evidence-based interventions
  • Patient and staff safety recommendations for crisis intervention utilization, unit flow, patient observation, and employee training structure and content 

Operational Analysis

Our unique approach looks at both the design and operations within behavioral healthcare. We believe that when the design of the building is driven by the design of the operational program, both work in tandem to produce far more successful outcomes.

Our combination of Design Excellence and Operational Consulting allows us to help the client design both their new space and their new program, so they work well together to provide a safe, effective, and operationally efficient treatment program that gets the best possible results for their patients.