AU/US : Trauma Informed Design Research : Practice, Process & Methods

Design practice that helps, not harms

Design research and co-design often involve people whose lives have been shaped by trauma, adversity, exclusion or systems that have not served them well. Trauma-informed practice offers a strengths-based way of working that recognises how trauma can shape safety, trust, participation and relationship.

This training supports designers, researchers and practitioners to bring greater awareness, care and responsiveness to their practice — including how they plan research, facilitate participation, work with stories and lived experience, and care for themselves and others through demanding work. It's also provides a good opportunity to connect and learn with other designers working on complex social problems through activities and group reflections.

Jax Wechsler is a trauma-informed practitioner, facilitator and systemic designer with more than 20 years’ experience in design and change work. Through Cocreate Change, she brings trauma-informed practice, nervous-system literacy and embodied approaches to teams working in complexity. Jax has delivered this training to more than 800 practitioners internationally.

Organisational Bookings

This training is designed for individual practitioners. If your organisation is interested in enrolling three or more staff, please contact me before booking to discuss bespoke training options. to discuss a bespoke training options with integration options.

PART A: Trauma Informed Design Research : Process and Practice
18th November at 8:00-10:30am AEST or 17th November 1:00-3:30pm PDT/USA

In this class you will learn about the five guiding principles of trauma informed practice; safety, choice, collaboration, trustworthiness and empowerment and learn how to apply them within design research contexts. You will learn some mindsets and practices you can apply within your own practice when working with people who may have experienced trauma. Together we will reflect on how we can make our practice more trauma-informed. You will leave the workshop with a set of principles and practices that will support you to be trauma informed in your design research practice.

PART B: Strength Based Trauma Informed Design Research Methods
19h November at 8:00-10:45am AEST or 18th November 1:00-3:45pm PDT/USA

In this class you will learn some research and participatory methods that you can use when conducting research with people who have experienced trauma. These practices, drawn from Asset Based Community Development, Community Engagement, TheoryU, Appreciative Inquiry and Participatory Design will support you to be more strengths based and trauma informed in your Design Research, Service Design and Co-design work, empowering you to help and not harm. You will receive a Methods workbook outlining the methods with links to further resources.

PART C: Vicarious Trauma : Looking After Your Wellbeing
25th November at 8:00-10:15am AEST or 24th November 1:00-3:15pm PDT/USA

Vicarious trauma presents a risk for those of us working in trauma associated contexts including with vulnerable communities, indigenous communities and people who have experienced trauma. In this session we will talk about vicarious trauma and together reflect on how we can best care for ourselves and each other when working in trauma related contexts. You will learn some embodiment practices to help you look after your own nervous systems and work on a personal self-care map as to build your personal capacity for trauma stewardship in the work you  do.

PART D: Navigating Distress Planning Tools
26th November at 8:00-10:15am AEST or 25th November at 1:00-3:15pm PDT/USA 

In this class you will work with some planning canvases to help you plan your research activities to minimise risks of stress and distress. We will consider scenarios in your practice that could lead to stress and distress for participants and consider how stress and distress can show up for people and what to look for. You will come up with a plan for how you will conduct an upcoming research engagement in a more trauma informed way using some tools you can use for future research planning. (Article that relates to this training.)

___________________________________________________________________

ABOUT JAX WECHSLER

Jax Wechsler is a trauma-informed facilitator, educator, coach and design researcher based in Sydney, Australia. Through Cocreate Change and Social Design Sydney she supports practitioners in design, research, innovation and change work to bring nervous-system literacy, embodied awareness and trauma-informed principles into their professional practice.

With more than 20 years’ experience in design and social change, and a Master’s by Research in Design from UTS, Jax teaches practical approaches for working with greater care, clarity and responsiveness in complex environments. She has delivered trauma-informed design research training for individual practitioners and teams for the past six years. Learn more about Jax on LinkedIn.

Her work is guided by a belief that sustainable change requires both outer practice and inner capacity: the ability to notice what is happening in ourselves and in relationship, stay present with complexity, and respond with greater creativity and care.

TESTIMONIALS 

“Attended Jacqueline (Jax) Wechsler workshop — strong recommend! Trauma-informed research should be considered essential training and part of all DR practice.”
– Megan Elyse Bontempo, Design Research Lead, ideo.org

"Great workshop thank you Jax... delivered with sensitivity, a strong evidence base, and plenty of additional references. I also benefited from the group format, due to the high calibre of very experienced participants doing incredible things with their energy and intelligence. Highly reccomend."

–Nik Bambrick, Senior Service Designer, Australian Digital Health Agency

“Thank you for bringing this topic of conversation to the table in such an informed and articulate way – it has been needed for a long time. I got so much out of it and highly recommend this workshop to my peers who work in design research, co-design and/ or HCD.”
– Laura James, Insights & Design Lead, Smith Family

"If you are a designer, or you work with people, I strongly recommend considering reflecting on this topic and checking out Jax's courses - they are excellent. As designers we deal with complexities, both human centered and environmental, and we all deserve to work in systems that honour us and our limits as individuals. Acknowledging your own nervous systems influence on the design process and on others is an empowering thing to understand."

– Amanda Russell. Landscape architect

“Each year I participate in various professional development programs. It’s my way of staying sharp and current in my dual roles as a service designer and trainer. It’s not often that I come across a training program I feel compelled to recommend to others. However, the training led by Jacqueline (Jax) Wechsler stands out significantly – it has effortlessly secured a spot in my top 5 list of all-time favourites. I firmly believe this course is a “Must-Have” for service designers and CX specialists across all sectors. Jax’s approach to Trauma-Informed Design Research is not just educational; it’s transformative, equipping professionals with the depth of understanding and empathy required to navigate complex service design challenges with sensitivity and insight.
If there’s one investment you make in your professional growth this year, let it be this one.”
– Nataliya Senytsya, Strategic Service Designer and Social Innovator  

"This specialised training focuses on conducting customer research with vulnerable populations, offering valuable tools like ‘Strength Based Practice’ and ‘Appreciative Inquiry’ that benefit all design research endeavours. The psychological insights gained are not just useful professionally but also in navigating life. Thank you, Jax, for driving capability uplift in this crucial space across Australia. It was an honour to have you at Westpac.”
– Rowan Davis, Divisional Design Lead, Westpac Group

"Jax Wechsler, we are so grateful for your support in working with the Fire to Flourish team. When we reflected on our program's guiding principles earlier this year, "being trauma-informed" was the one everyone felt least confident putting into practice. The way you brought together theory, examples, practical advice and safe discussion space was really powerful. The team has come away with new insights, skills and refreshed commitments. A particular shout out from our community teams - they deeply valued the space you held for them to reflect, learn and plan their complex community facilitation work together. Highly recommended!
– Briony Rogers, CEO, Fire to Flourish. Monash Sustainable Development Institute

“I had the good fortune of spending time with Jax Wechsler recently, attending her Trauma Informed Design Research training with some team mates. I found her approach engaging and really utility focussed – we left with a clear plan of how to pivot our approach to maximise research engagement whilst minimising harm.We’re currently leading intensive research across Queensland with seven of the most vulnerable cohorts of the community, and I am confident that we approaching it in the most careful and kind way thanks to the grounding Jax gave us. Highly recommend the 3-part course, the final instalment of the training focussed on how to support yourself during the process and was also of great benefit for the team.”
– Laura Campbell, Partner Deloitte Digital

“We’ve found Jax’s insights enormously informative and it has been so valuable to have the space to collectively reflect on our practice as evaluators and how we can create safe spaces, empowerment, collaboration and choice in evaluations. Plenty of good activities to embed the learning too! Thanks Jax!”
– Jade Maloney, CEO ARTD Consultants

“Absolutely loved this ❤️ !! It was great to create space for ourselves as researchers + people and not only as researchers or practitioners. Thanks Jacqueline (Jax) Wechsler, there is a lot I’m itching to put in practice for me and my team.”
– Efi Chatzopoulou, Lead design researcher, Gov.UK

“Attended an awesome class this morning by Jacqueline (Jax) Wechsler on Trauma Informed Design. Great to get a refresher on some of the theory, alongside some new and refined methods I can mould into my own design process. Highly recommend it!”
– Natasha Ballantyne, Experience Strategy Lead, Senior Manager, PwC Experience Consulting

"This was such a great training that equipped my team to feel more confident to work with vulnerable communities."
– Wendy Li,  Scyne Service Design Lead

"Jax took our user research team through her Trauma Informed training course, where she displayed a deep understanding of the field, navigating the sometimes sensitive subject matter and discussions with skill and compassion. Our team got a lot of value from the experience and have taken concrete steps towards improving how we relate to each other as a team and how we relate to our research participants in our professional practice."

– Gerard Rummery, Senior User Researcher, Resmed

“How often during a #userresearch interview have you felt like the conversation was drifting uncomfortably close to becoming a therapy session? In the health space especially, I found this was happening quite a lot. Which is why I wanted to make sure Etc. Health’s research team was equipped with the right skills and tools to ensure our practice is trauma-informed. This three-part workshop took us through the science behind how trauma impacts the nervous system, how we as researchers can take best care of our participants and how we can take care of ourselves when dealing with other folks’ trauma. We left feeling energised and confident, with a strong foundational framework for handling our participants responses (and our own) in the right way.I highly recommend to anybody involved in engaging with research participants. And that’s not just where the subject matter could be predictably triggering – trauma can show up in surprising places.”

– Abigail McLeod, Etc. Health, BT Group

“Jax has had a great deal of experience researching sensitive topics with vulnerable groups. The course has great practical advice and guidance and teaches techniques to re-frame research topics / questions in a way that’s helpful whether you’re researching with vulnerable users or just ones that might come under stress. I wish I had done this years ago! I’ve worked on projects where users weren’t necessarily deemed to be vulnerable or have experienced trauma, but due to circumstance and stressful nature of the research topics, they were indeed sensitive and emotional. I really feel like I’ve gained skills to help my research practice, overall, too. TAKE THIS COURSE!”
– Ann Danylkiw, Senior UX Research

"A heartfelt acknowledgment to Jax Wechsler for instilling in us the importance of applying trauma-informed principles in our research endeavours."

–Paige Nuzzolillo, RVO Health

"Our team spent two days with Jax Wechsler for trauma-informed design research training, and it was one of those rare workshops that actually changed how we show up in our work. It wasn’t flashy or overly theoretical. It was steady, spacious and surprisingly grounding. If you’re a designer, researcher, or anyone working with lived experience communities, Jax is someone you want in your corner. She brings depth without heaviness, structure without rigidity, and a lot of heart. Our team is better for having learned from her.”

– David Evans, Beyond Blue