Creating Healing-Centered Workplaces - for Staff and Clients - Brita Loeb, LMSW she/her
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5/18/2021
Creating Healing-Centered Workplaces
for Staff and Clients
1
Brita Loeb, LMSW
she/her
Curriculum and Technical Assistance Specialist
Mary Dino, LCSW
she/her
Director of Mental Health and Trauma
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Objectives
1. Define trauma and its short-term and long-term effects
2. Articulate the theory of healing-centered design
3. Apply three design strategies to the physical, in-person
workplace
4. Apply three design strategies to the remote workplace
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What is Trauma?
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Trauma – The 3 E’s
• Event(s) or set of circumstances that a person
• Experiences as dangerous or life threatening
• Has lasting harmful effects on said individual’s biological,
psychological, emotional, and spiritual health
SAMHSA, 2014
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When faced with danger…
FIGHT FLIGHT FREEZE
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…becomes “survival,” a hardwired and
normal response to threat
FIGHT FLIGHT FREEZE
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domestic violence sea level
rise record heat and droughts
neglect
homelessness hurricanes
parental
mental illness physical, emotional wildfires
or sexual abuse
addiction tornadoes
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HOUSEHOLD
3 ENVIRONMENT
violence
poverty
historical trauma structural racism 2 COMMUNITY
poor air and water quality
underfunded schools
low access to nutrition overpoliced communities 8
lack of jobs
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How can a space be healing for people who have
experienced trauma?
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Imagine a safe and comforting place…
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Chat In:
What is your safe and comforting space?
What are its sounds, sights, and smells?
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Healing-Centered Design
Integrates the principles of trauma informed care:
Safety Trust Connection
Cultural
Empowerment Control
Humility
SAMHSA, 2014
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HEALING-CENTERED DESIGN
DESIGN CHOICE
PRINCIPLE
Room chosen with a view of nature and
Connection
the outdoors
Curtains used to alter heat and glare Sense of control
Clutter-free wall with community-made art Celebration of identity
Separate space away from quiet Refuge
Movable furniture Trust
Exterior window bars removed Freedom
Unnecessary tables removed Accessibility and agency
Seat cushions added to hard surface
Physical comfort
benches
Blankets and pillows added to the space Serenity
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Healing-Centered Design
• Realizes how the built environment affects an individual’s
biology, psychology, and behavior
• Recognizes positive socio-emotional wellbeing in healing-
centered spaces
• Resists re-traumatization through design innovation
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An environment can facilitate healing by
eliciting feelings of safety, trust, connection,
empowerment control, and cultural humility
that may have been taken away or lessened
through trauma event(s) or experiences.
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Designing the In-Person
Workplace
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Meeting Clients’ and Staff’s Needs
Color Lighting Layout
Furniture Nature
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Healing by Design: Color
• Lighter colors “feel” more open and less crowded
• Blank and sterile walls may remind people of institutional
environments
• Fewer colors in a smaller space are best for less stimulation
• Warm colors create arousal, while cooler colors have a more
soothing effect
• Humans perceive rooms with a lighter coloring to be more open and
less crowded
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Images courtesy of Publicolor
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Healing by Design: Furniture
• Moveable furniture allows people to feel they have control and choices
• Simple, linear, and easy to navigate space has a calming effect
• Lighter pieces of furniture like blankets, pillows, and curtains can create
tranquility and closeness
• Cluttered spaces elicit a sense of chaos and lack of order
• Non-hierarchical furniture creates balance and equality amongst people
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Image courtesy of Dr. Stephanie Liddicoat
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Healing by Design: Lighting
• Decorative lighting (pendants, lamps, string lights, etc.) may
create a more intimate feel
• Lights that hum, buzz, or flicker may create overstimulation
• Lamps and dimmers allow control of settings
• Daylight has more healing properties than fluorescent lights
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Image courtesy of Dr. Stephanie Liddicoat
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Healing by Design: Nature
• Landscape and nature-themed artwork and design are proven to
create less stressful environments as compared to something more
ambiguous like an urban landscape
• Having plants in a work setting can decrease blood pressure and
increase attentiveness by 12% for stressful task performance
• Views of natures and of people/objects in an expansive space yield
fatigue reduction, healing of physical ailments, and increased
learning
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Healing by Design: Layout
• Crowding and density may elicit feelings of social disruption, stress,
and loss of autonomy
• Movable furniture in certain layouts can lead to community
interaction
• Combination of a private environment with social spaces is important
for patients’ changing social needs
• Cluttered spaces elicit a sense of chaos and lack of order
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Images courtesy of Designing Justice + Designing Spaces
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Designing the
Virtual Workplace
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Healing-Centered Design Concepts
Integrate the principles of trauma informed care:
Safety Trust Connection
Cultural
Empowerment Control
Humility
SAMHSA, 2014
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Safety/Trust
• Address confidentiality concerns before beginning remote
conversations
• Ensure patient is in a comfortable space emotionally and
physically
• Invite patients to create a space that supports their wellbeing,
like bringing in a comfort item
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Cultural Humility
• Offer that people on the remote call customize their name as
they prefer and with their pronouns
• Provide closed captioning services if available and feasible
• Ensure video backgrounds are culturally-sensitive
• Open the conversation with a land acknowledgment
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Control
• Establish group meeting norms and how to best hear and
amplify one another’s voices
• Allow for choice in whether the patient/participant would like
their camera on or off
• Identify staff and participants’ roles and their functions
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Empowerment
• Utilize interactive measures like polling, chat boxes, break out
rooms, group annotation, etc. to encourage participants’ voices
• Allow for a place for real-time feedback
• Staff clearly explain how to use the technology at hand
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Connection
• Staff ask patients/participants if there are any anticipated
technology issues and make appropriate plans
• If there are multiple sessions, staff ensures predictability by
opening and closing each session in a similar manner
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Aesthetic Tips for Healing-Centered
Virtual Design
• Consistent and clear audio quality (not choppy, breaking out, or
echoing)
• Consistent and warm lighting (no humming, buzzing, or flickering)
• No extraneous noises (loud sounds, dogs barking, unidentifiable
voices)
• Video is at an appropriate angle, height, and distance from the
screen
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Benefits for Clients and Staff
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You are in control, celebrate your space!
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If you could change one thing in your
physical or virtual workplace tomorrow…,
it would be…
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