Trauma-Informed Design Toolkit: Principles, Strategies, and a Workplace Case Study
Designers are frequently asked to create spaces that support people who have experienced trauma – from healthcare settings and learning environments to workplaces and justice facilities. Yet despite strong training in design, many practitioners feel understandably cautious about this responsibility.
And for good reason.
Design has the power to support wellbeing, but it can also unintentionally cause harm. Creating trauma-informed environments requires more than good intentions. It calls for education, reflection and a thoughtful, rigorous approach to understanding how the built environment shapes human experience.
Trauma is a near-universal human experience. At some point in life, most people will encounter events that profoundly affect their sense of safety, control or belonging.
Trauma-informed design (TiD) responds to this reality. It recognises that occupants may carry lived experiences of trauma, and seeks to create environments that minimise the risk of retraumatisation while supporting dignity, safety and hope.
This toolkit was developed to help bridge the gap between awareness and action. It offers practical, tested strategies that designers can apply across a wide range of project types, translating trauma-informed principles into tangible design decisions.
By sharing this framework, we hope to support designers in approaching trauma-informed practice with greater confidence – and to help create environments that communicate safety, respect and care from the moment someone enters a space.
Download the toolkit to explore the framework.