An initiative that brings together trauma survivors, business owners, and the community to co-create spaces that are trauma-sensitive.
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Context
The overwhelming majority of adults in the US have experienced at least one traumatic event in their lifetime. Of this, 8% of adults will have Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) at any given time.
While PTSD is often associated with male, veteran populations the majority of these diagnoses are civilian women. In fact, women are 2-3X more likely to develop PTSD than men are.
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Design WITH Accessibility
Accessible Design is a design process in which those with disabilities are specifically considered. A disability, as defined by the ADA, is "a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activity". Although the ADA includes "mental impairment" in their definition of disability, their standards mostly set out to design for physical accessibility of spaces.
Mental accessibility is overlooked, and so the needs of those with mental disabilities, specifically women with a history of trauma, remain unmet.
And so the question I set out to answer was How might we improve the trauma-sensitivity of small businesses to address the needs of women with a history of trauma?
Restore
Restore is an initiative that brings together trauma survivors, business owners, and the community to co-create spaces that are trauma-sensitive. Restore has three main objectives:
Restore is essentially a feedback loop between business owners and their clients, and the guiding principles and frameworks for evaluating the business has been developed directly with survivors of trauma.
The Vision
Imagine a city where people could make informed decisions of where to go based on the recommendations of others. Not only could this lessen the risk of negative responses to the built environment but this could also be a tool for survivors of trauma to feel equipped to explore and build new relationships within their communities.
