Trauma-Informed Design Symposium at Iowa State University to feature public panel discussion, exhibition and keynote
AMES, Iowa — Local advocates and human service providers will discuss how the designed environment affects the outcomes of social programs as part of the Trauma-Informed Design Symposium scheduled Oct. 15-17 at Iowa State University.
In “Environmental Design is a Social Service Issue,” four panelists will talk about how the design of spaces in which social programs are delivered influences individual and social outcomes. The public panel discussion will begin at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 15, in the College of Design’s Lyle E. and Anna Lightfoot Forum (atrium).
Panelists include:
- Andrew Allen, president and CEO, YSS (Youth and Shelter Services)
Amy Anderson Sorensen, at-risk coordinator, Southeast Polk Community School District - Kathy Nesteby, executive officer, Criminal and Juvenile Justice Planning, Iowa Department of Health and Human Services
- Lori Rinehart, retired domestic violence shelter director, Children and Families of Iowa
The panel will be moderated by Abbie Gaffey, ISU Extension and Outreach community development specialist.
The symposium is organized by Julie Stevens, associate professor of landscape architecture; Gaffey; and Barb Toews, associate professor of criminal justice at the University of Washington Tacoma.
Stevens and Toews are among the pioneers in the field of trauma-informed design.
“At the heart of trauma-informed design is a commitment to designing with the most vulnerable people affected by our work in mind,” Stevens said.
“One way of understanding how the designed environment impacts trauma survivors is to co-design with them and the frontline advocates and therapeutic service providers who help meet their needs.”
Panelists will describe the best place they have ever delivered human services programming and what about that space was conducive to more successful participant outcomes.
About the exhibition
In addition to the public panel discussion, each of the experts who are participating in the symposium will have work exhibited in the College of Design atrium along with interactive pieces that were created by students in trauma-informed design studio courses taught by Stevens.
The exhibition will be on display Oct. 14-18.
About the keynote
Deanna Van Buren, the co-founder and executive director of Designing Justice + Designing Spaces (DJDS), will present the symposium’s closing keynote lecture.
Her free public talk, “How to Design Physical Environments that Promote Healing, Justice and Peace,” will be at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 16, in the Durham Great Hall at the Iowa State Memorial Union.
The Trauma-Informed Design Symposium is supported by an ISU Center for Excellence in the Arts and Humanities Symposium Grant; the King Excellence Fund; the ISU Department of Landscape Architecture; the School of Social Work and Criminal Justice at the University of Washington, Tacoma; the Stanley G. and Dorothy F. Thurston Fund for Excellence in Care-Centered Design; the ISU Institute for Design Research and Outreach and the ISU College of Design.
Van Buren’s lecture is co-sponsored by the ISU Committee on Lectures (funded by Student Government).
Contacts
Julie Stevens, Associate Professor, Landscape Architecture, 515-294-6927, jstevens@iastate.edu
Heather Sauer, Director of Strategic Communications, College of Design, 515-294-9289, hsauer@iastate.edu
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