Ifat Witz is Clinical Director of the Acute Assessment/Swing Program, the Horizon Program for Geriatric Psychiatry, and the ECT Program. She said the paintings are part of a long-term plan to reimagine the space to match the caring, compassionate environment about which Horizon staff are already justifiably proud. In other words, less like a hospital.

Patient safety was also considered with the clever camouflaging of exit points: an elevator plastered with colourful vines and a door painted to look like a coat rack.

There are other concrete benefits. Depth perception, for example, is aided by contrasting colours, which becomes more important as people age and their vision deteriorates. Patients having a meal on a dark table, for example, are less likely to see what they’re eating, so cream-coloured tables were purchased to improve food intake.

One of the new murals shows a canoe gliding across a placid, tree-lined lake; blues and greens have been shown to be calming and comforting. Other walls feature a traditional European market, a dazzling underwater tableau, and a fireplace in a cosy cottage.

Horizon is for people over 65 with signs and symptoms of a psychiatric disorder, as well as those under 65 with Alzheimer’s or dementia. The program provides a safe and secure environment that includes a day room, a secured patio area, a dining room, and rooms for therapy, activities and visiting.