Trauma-Informed Design

Have you ever wondered how design intersects with trauma-informed care? Learn how simple adjustments in design can create profound changes, enabling transformation and positively affecting the lives of those who have experienced trauma. We discuss practical strategies, principles, and real-life examples to foster environments that promote healing and safety. Inclusivity lies at the heart of our discussion. We explore how design can be a tool for empowerment, giving voice to marginalized communities–and how co-creation builds spaces that genuinely reflect and uplift the people they represent. 

CTIPP INTERVIEWERS: Whitney Marris, LCSW, and Laura Braden

GUEST: Our guest, Julie Stevens, is an Associate Professor in the Department of Landscape Architecture at Iowa State University, where she has developed an innovative student design-build service-learning program. 

Beginning in 2011, Stevens has established a multi-year partnership with the Iowa Department of Corrections to create therapeutic environments for prisons, including gardens for prison staff and incarcerated individuals. 

The team of Iowa State students, prison staff, and incarcerated individuals at the Iowa Correctional Institution for Women (ICIW) received the Award of Excellence in Community Service from the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) in 2015 for the ICIW outdoor classrooms and a decompression deck and the 2018 ASLA Award of Excellence in Community Service for the Children’s Garden, a visiting garden for incarcerated women and their visitors. 

Stevens founded ASLA’s Environmental Justice Professional Practice Network, which focuses on creating healthy environments for all people by integrating environmental justice issues into landscape architectural education, research, and professional practice. Stevens is a contributor to Design as Democracy: Techniques for Collective Creativity, Island Press.

#TransformTrauma is a podcast by the Campaign for Trauma-Informed Policy and Practice (CTIPP). Through coalition-building, advocacy, and policymaking, we’re building a national movement that integrates community-led, trauma-informed, resilience-focused, and healing-centered prevention and intervention across all sectors and generations. Learn more at CTIPP.org.