Demystifying Trauma-Informed Design: Answers to Your Top Questions

What is trauma-informed design (TID)?

Trauma-informed design is an approach to designing spaces that responds to the specific needs and sensitivities of people who have experienced trauma. Scientific studies show that our surroundings profoundly impact our health and wellbeing. Trauma-informed design applies this research in a practical way to create interiors that are not only beautiful, but also promote dignity, wellbeing and healing.

Trauma-informed design (TID) starts with understanding the impact of trauma on the person and how that changes the way they perceive and respond to their physical environment. Design strategies are then chosen in a very intentional way to promote wellbeing and recovery. The emotional impact of TID includes an increased sense of physical and emotional safety, emotional regulation, connection with others, and a sense of empowerment and hope for the future.

How does TID differ from conventional design approaches?

Conventional approaches to interior design lead with aesthetics – making spaces beautiful and visually appealing. A good designer also pays attention to the functionality of a space – how we move through the space and how to make our day-to-day lives easier.

Trauma-informed design encompasses form (aesthetics) and function but adds a psychological and wellbeing layer to the design process. The emphasis is on the emotional impact of a space, ensuring that each element of the design is not only visually appealing but also contributes to a sense of security, empowerment and healing.

Creating a sense of psychological safety is one of the goals of TID. There are multiple design strategies that we use to achieve this including the way we arrange furniture and removing potential visual and acoustic trauma triggers. For example, something that makes a sudden loud noise like an internal door can trigger a trauma response.

Another outcome of TID is to help people feel worthy of a better life. One of the ways that we have achieved this in a refuge for women and children is to add design elements that rebuild personal identity. This might be as simple as installing a pinboard for mum to display photos of the kids and a shelf for storing meaningful objects that remind her of who she is beyond the trauma.

What types of trauma can be influenced by trauma-informed design?

Trauma-informed design can help people who have experienced different types of trauma including:

• Addiction and substance abuse;

• Grief after losing a parent, sibling, close relative or friend;

• Victims of crime, including women and children who have experienced domestic violence;

• Chronic stress, which also creates a trauma response in our body.

How does the type of trauma influence the design process that is required?

The type of trauma influences the psychological outcomes that we want to achieve, such as feeling safer or regulating emotions. These outcomes then determine the TID strategies that we prioritise in a particular environment.

For example, if trauma is due to domestic violence, then our design strategies will have a strong emphasis on creating a sense of psychological safety but also building confidence and hope to help that person feel worthy of a better life and prevent her from returning to the abusive environment.

When we are working with trauma related to addiction, we prioritise creating calming spaces that help the person to better regulate their emotions and behaviour.

When beginning the design process, what aspects of trauma-informed design should be prioritised?

This is an important question because most organisations and individuals we work with don’t have unlimited funds. They often have a limited budget so we need to make sure that we are prioritising the design strategies that will have the biggest positive impact on wellbeing. There are two ways we do this.

Firstly, the psychological outcomes that we’re working to achieve, whether that be regulating emotions or making someone feel physically and psychologically safe, will inform the aspects of trauma-informed design that should be prioritised.

Secondly, our Trauma-Informed Hierarchy of Needs guides our decisions about which aspects of trauma-informed design need to be prioritised. The are 6 levels in the hierarchy and, for the most part, each level builds on the ones before.

For example, a person’s basic human needs of shelter and food need to be met before they can feel safe. And they need to feel safe before they can begin to regulate their emotions and behaviour. And they need to feel calm before they can connect with other people who are working with them in their recovery process. And all of this needs to be in place before someone feels empowered enough to change their behaviour and circumstances.

So, using the hierarchy, we make sure that the most fundamental human needs are met first and prioritise other design strategies from there.

What is an example of trauma-informed design that has made a significant positive impact on individuals recovering from trauma?

An example of a real-world application of trauma-informed design that has made a significant positive impact is a project we completed at Erin’s Place, which is a refuge for women and children fleeing domestic violence. You can read more about this project here.

A couple of months after completing the project, some of the feedback we received from the residents was that the refuge now felt like a warm home that lifted their spirits when things became too much; they had a sense that everything was going to be okay and it made them feel worthy.

A 12 month review of the project with staff who work at Erin’s Place found that there had been a noticeable shift in residents’ mindset and wellbeing, from feelings of desperation and despair and a lot of complaints about the house to now far fewer complaints, and residents feeling calmer, more settled and having a sense of relief when they arrive home to the refuge at the end of the day.

A surprise outcome was that staff at the refuge are much happier working on site and are finding Erin’s Place a more productive working environment now.

Who is trauma-informed design for?

Trauma-informed design can be used by community services who support people recovering from trauma and by individuals wanting to create a safe, calm and nurturing home after experiencing trauma in their life.

You can find out more about trauma-informed design by booking a free call with me or emailing us here.