Supporting Mental Health in the Workplace with Design
Nina Patel • Oct 04, 2022

It’s vital that your workspace supports employee wellbeing and good mental health. So, in honour of Mental Health Awareness Week, here are some tips to achieve this using design:



Incorporating Biophilia

By integrating some elements of nature into your workplace design, you’ll be sure to boost the moods of your employees considerably. This has been proven by multiple studies, which have taught us that incorporating wooden materials and plants have been shown to help reduce stress, whilst views of the great outdoors can help ease anxiety. Not only that, but, the calming effects of nature in the workplace are also proven to support

cognitive function and promote creativity–essentially, biophilic workplace design is a surefire way to support good mental health.

Plant wall by Glenside

With all this in mind, we offer a wide range of natural materials for you to choose from at Glenside, including natural moss and solid oak. We also provide a variety of both living and replica plants, so you’ll be spoiled for choice when making your selection. 


Whichever way you may choose to incorporate biophilia in your workplace, we have many options available for you and our skilled designers can help you transform your workplace environment and support the mental health of your employees.


Use of Natural Light

It’s been proven that more exposure to natural daylight in the workplace correlates with a good quality of life for employees; improving mood, concentration and sleep quality. These are all important variables when it comes to supporting mental health within your workplace, and therefore could be a thing to consider when redesigning your space.

Conference desk & individual desks near large window by Glenside

However, it’s not lost on us that this isn’t possible for every office. If your space isn’t blessed with floor-to-ceiling windows, a good way to utilise the natural light you do have may be to place more desks closer to the windows. Alternatively, using circadian lighting to mimic natural daylight is also a great way to support mental health in your workplace in the absence of natural sunlight.


Whichever method you choose to utilise natural light in your workplace, Glenside offer a wide range of lighting options. We also have a team of talented designers on hand to help you design your space in the best way possible to make the most of natural light; supporting good mental health for your employees.

Including Breakout Spaces & Adaptable Environments

When it comes to supporting mental health in your workplace, it’s important to remember that not everybody has the same working style or personality type. Therefore, making sure you design a space that’s varied and caters to all of the different people that work in your office is the best way to make sure they all feel comfortable and supported in their preferred working style. You can find out more about this here.


Not only does your environment need to be adaptable, but it’s also important to include breakout spaces to provide some respite from the busyness of the working day. However, if you don’t have a lot of space to work with, Glenside are on hand to help you utilise your space in the best way possible.


We recently did this for our Animal Charity client, who came to us with the desire to redesign their outdated breakout space. They also had a flat roof area which they wished for us to repurpose. Inspired by the potential of this area, our designers collaborated with the client to create a calming roof terrace as an extension to their breakout space. This has received incredibly possible client feedback, who have told us that their team are very much enjoying these new areas of their workplace.


This was just one example of how Glenside has utilised space in order to create environments for employees to unwind; supporting their mental health.

Find Out More

Glenside have extensive experience in designing spaces across a variety of industries. Get in touch now to find out more.

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