‘Living needs a landscape’: A qualitative study about the role of enabling landscapes for people with mental health and substance abuse problems

Abstract

The deinstitutionalization of mental health institutions has enabled service users to live in the community and search for what Duff coins ‘enabling places.’ These places were explored through walking interviews, in which service-users led the way. This analysis revealed features which made places promote liveable lives: places help people explore, places help people stand out, places give people responsibilities, and places dare people. An adverse feature was also identified: places define people by their problems. Overall, we suggest that ‘living needs a landscape’ to capture how a diversity of places form an ‘enabling landscape’. This suggests a shift of focus in research and treatment, from internal to external landscapes.