The Redleaf Center for Family Healing expands upon the work of Hennepin Healthcare’s Mother-Baby Program, Minnesota’s first intensive mental health program for pregnant and postpartum mothers. Understanding the impact stress and trauma can have on children and parents, as well as the importance of bringing hope and joy into the lives of the families they serve, the one-of-a-kind Redleaf Center brings together day hospital outpatient services, perinatal outpatient programs, and mental health therapy for all family members.

The design captures the feeling of sitting under a tree — a moment when a person is open to the world, but at a calm distance. The canopy of a tree shelters, while the trunk supports and provides stability. The Redleaf Center’s location infills open space under existing hospital floors, and the floor plan’s main circulation emulates the gentle ambling of walking along a path within a forest. Local artists were engaged to create original artwork throughout, evoking feelings of safety, love, and belonging.

The new program space allows Redleaf to offer expanded services and further its mission to relieve suffering and break generational cycles of trauma by supporting parents in developing skills to provide the consistent and nurturing care all children need to thrive