Service Description

Did you know the built environment can impact our emotions and behaviors, both negatively and positively? Physical environments have the ability to increase or reduce our stress. The spaces in which we live and receive services can communicate safety and promote supportive relationships, or they can symbolize lack of dignity and agency, encouraging re-traumatization. In order to truly create a space that will support healing in survivors, it is important to cultivate an understanding of their identities, culture, and what is important to them. That understanding can then be used to anticipate and mitigate potential triggers, maximize choice, and create a safe, comfortable environment. By implementing a trauma-informed approach to design, organizations can create environments which help lower the stress levels of individuals who use the space. Built on a realization of how the physical environment affects identity, worth, and dignity, trauma-informed design promotes safety, well-being, empowerment, and healing. COTIP's founder, Christine Cowart, is also a cofounder of the Trauma-informed Design Society (TiDS), along with: • Janet Roche, MDS, an interior designer and faculty member of the Boston Architectural College, who has degree and previous experience in social work; and • J. Davis Harte, PhD, WELL AP, the Director and Faculty of the Design for Human Health master’s program at the Boston Architectural College. This team will provide site- and community-specific, evidence-based design recommendations for your next project. By developing an understanding of the community that would be using the space, and applying the Trauma-informed Design framework, the TiDS will customize recommendations based on stakeholders’ expressed hopes, desires, and goals.