 Jessica Helgerson Interior Design, click here for the article.
Path Home, formerly Portland HomelessFamily Solutions, provides shelter and support services for unhoused families across, a HomeAid Portland project that utilizes trauma-informed design properties.
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| Trauma-Informed Design can Help individuals Adjust to New Environments
Overall, trauma-informed design seeks to create inclusive and supportive environments that prioritize the well-being and agency of individuals who have experienced trauma. It recognizes the importance of empathy, understanding, and collaboration amongst people of different backgrounds in designing facilities that meet their diverse needs and experiences.
Trauma-informed design is an approach to designing products, services, environments, and systems that take into consideration the potential impact of trauma on individuals, marginalized communities, and ethnic groups who have experienced negative consequences after exposure to dangerous experiences. It recognizes that many people and cultures have experienced various forms of generational trauma, such as abuse, violence, or natural disasters, and that these experiences can have lasting effects on their well-being and interactions with the world.
The principles of trauma-informed design aim to create safe and supportive environments that promote healing, empowerment, and resilience. Here are some key elements of trauma-informed design:
- Safety: Designing with a focus on safety involves creating spaces and experiences that minimize potential triggers and re-traumatization. This can include clear signage, well-lit areas, and secure and private spaces.
- Trustworthiness and transparency: The design should foster trust by being open, transparent, and reliable. Clear communication, consistency, and predictability in the design can help individuals feel more comfortable and secure.
- Choice and control: Providing individuals with a sense of autonomy and control is essential. Design elements that allow for personalization, flexibility, and options can empower individuals to make choices that suit their needs and preferences.
- Collaboration and mutuality: Designing with input from the people who will use the product or service is crucial. Engaging users in the design process can ensure that their perspectives, experiences, and needs are considered, leading to more effective and empathetic solutions. Developing community consensus on the values that will govern and sustain the development of the community is core to building a balance between individual preferences and the good of the community. Individuals have the right AND responsibility to the commitment to giving their fair share to promote the advancement of health, well-being, and welfare of themselves and the community.
- Empowerment and resilience: Trauma-informed design should aim to promote empowerment and resilience. This can be achieved by fostering a sense of mastery, self-efficacy, and self-care through thoughtful design choices.
- Sensory considerations: Traumatic experiences can heighten sensitivity to sensory stimuli. Designing with an awareness of this can involve creating calming and soothing environments, reducing noise levels, providing options for privacy or personal space, and considering the use of color, texture, cultural references (such as symbols), and lighting.
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HomeAid Phoenix Dedicates Pet Expansion and Dog Park and Sojourner Center on August 18HomeAid Phoenix celebrates the opening of the newly completed pet companion shelter room expansion and dog park at Sojourner Center on August 18, 2023.. The Sojourner Center expansion project marks HomeAid Phoenix’s first completed major build project in the valley. A huge thank you to the Project Builder Captain, Taylor Morrison, and the many trade partners and contributors that lent their time and skill to this project.
The Sojourner Center Pet Companion Shelter Expansion project, included the remodeling of six emergency shelter rooms to make them pet-friendly, plus the addition of a new dog park.
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HomeAid Orlando Breaks Ground on the Cottages on Grove Project
Groundbreaking event of a 2-acre site in downtown Eustis to construct 10 “micro homes” or cottages (610sf. 2 bedrooms, 1 bathroom) which will house up to 20 clients of Forward Paths Foundation. The project Builder Captains are Ashton Woods and Taylor Morrison.
This project will house at-risk youth and youth aging out of foster care while helping these young adults set a path toward successful independence. Forward Paths currently operates with a series of apartments and rented homes throughout Lake County and has performed this vital service since 2013.
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HomeAid National Capital Region Hosts Community Event forNon-profit PartnersHomeAid National Capital Region recently welcomed 80 of their nonprofit partners' clients to our Arts in the Park event at Wolf Trap’s Children’s Theatre-in-the-Woods, where they enjoyed a sold-out performance of “Penguin Goes to Art School.”
In addition to free admission, HomeAid provided boxed lunches, and each child in attendance received a brand-new backpack and a $50 gift card, enabling kids to shop for and select their very own school supplies.
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HomeAid San Diego Graduates 5th WORKS Construction Training Program Cohort
The HomeAid WORKS Program was developed by HomeAid and support of the Lennar and the Lennar Foundation, to offer a solution to address the critical labor shortage in the home building industry by providing technical construction training, education, and job opportunities for at-risk youth, men, women, and veterans who are experiencing homelessness, at risk of homelessness, or exiting homelessness.
Since its inception, the HomeAid San Diego WORKS program has completed 5 cohorts, graduating 49 students and helping 22 of them secure full-time employment with San Diego area construction companies.
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