About Mindful Spaces at BC Children’s Hospital

At BC Children’s Hospital (BCCH), the Centre for Mindfulness (CM) aspires to transform the very culture and environment of our hospital. Our vision is to create a space that is more healing, community-oriented, and compassionate for everyone who walks through our doors. The Mindful Spaces project is a key initiative in this transformation, gently weaving mindfulness reminders into various areas across our campus. Our hope is to co-create a more mindful hospital community for all our patients, families, and dedicated health professionals.

We have carefully designed several areas across the hospital campus, each offering a unique invitation to pause and connect. These include the Mindful Connector, the Mindful Library, the Sauder Family Healing Garden, and the C&W Connect Cafe. Each one of the spaces has a QR code which links to a guided meditation, making it easy to share information about the space and access a moment of pause.  After you have had a chance to visit, we would love to hear about your experience. You can share your feedback directly with us here. 

Co-Creating Mindful Spaces
The heart of the Mindful Spaces project lies in genuine collaboration.  We partnered with patients, families, and health professionals to co-create comfortable spaces with gentle reminders about mindfulness to truly meet their needs. These are places where you can go to simply take a pause, breathe in, and gently exhale—a moment to just be present amidst the often-challenging hospital environment. This collaborative approach benefited immensely from the insights and guidance of groups such as the Healthy Minds Patient and Family Advisory Council, the Kelty Mental Health Resource Centre Parent Advisory Council, the BCCH Youth Advisory Council, various health professionals, the Centre for Mindfulness Council, and the Centre for Mindfulness Executive Committee.

Celebrating Our Launch
We were thrilled to officially launch Phase 1 of Mindful Spaces on March 13, 2025. It was a momentous occasion celebrating the collective effort that brought this vision to life. Our executive sponsor, Sarah Bell, BCCH COO, shared some beautiful words about the Centre and these new spaces. She emphasized that “In addition to the Centre’s programs and resources, these Mindful Spaces create an accessible and beautiful way to practice mindfulness. I encourage all of you to experience these spaces individually, with your teams, and with your patients and families.” She added, “We are creating this community together and, in doing so, are building a more mindful hospital together.” To mark the launch, all our collaborators were invited to join us in a community mindfulness practice, followed by a mindful walking tour of each new space.

A Heartfelt Thank You
A project of this scope and impact would not be possible without the incredible dedication of many. The very essence of this project is the co-creation of each space with our collaborators, and we extend a huge thank you to every single person and organization who contributed. This includes the BC Children’s Hospital Foundation, the BC Children’s Hospital Centre for Mindfulness Council, the BC Children’s Hospital Centre for Mindfulness Executive Committee, BC Children’s Hospital Executive Sponsors, and the BC Children’s Hospital Centre for Mindfulness Core Team.

Special recognition goes to our project leads, Emma Jordan (Project Manager) and Jeanette Fong (Project Coordinator), and the entire Project Core Team. We also gratefully acknowledge the Healthy Minds Patient and Family Advisory Council, BC Children's Kelty Mental Health Resource Centre – Parent Advisory Group, and the BC Children’s Hospital Youth Advisory Council.

Thank you to our mindful community for welcoming us into their spaces, and to Michelle Man (Artistic Direction and Graphic Design), JustPlants (Interior Plant Specialist), Paul Romanowski (Graphic Design, PRDesignworx), Latitude Agency (Communication and Branding Solutions), and Mellenger Interactive (Web Developer) for their expert contributions.