A trauma-informed landscape design process for transitional housing.
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The Person
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The People, The Pets, The Plants
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The Process
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The Presentation
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The Problem
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The Project
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The Participation
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The Prompts
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The Performance
The Person
Hi, my name is Rosie Yerke. I’m a 3rd year Master of Landscape Architecture student. For my master’s project, I’ve been researching trauma-informed design at a transitional housing community in Eugene, OR, called Everyone Village (EV). Throughout the last year, I have co-facilitated a series of participatory design projects on site that resulted in a conceptual site plan, some personal and community garden spaces, and an implementation plan for a transitional employment program.
The People.
This project would not have been possible without my intimate and extended communities' research, work, care, and experience. It would take more than the entirety of this presentation to list my fellow co-researchers. And so, for the sake of this short presentation, I will only list a few central characters.
The inspiring crew of the Homeless Garden Project in Santa Cruz, CA, have shown us at EV the secret sauce to a robust and healing transitional employment program for humans and the earth alike.
Plaedo–EV site lead and staff extraordinaire–has been working tirelessly to help co-facilitate the Everyone Village (EV) garden club.
Gabe–EV director and master multitasker–has continually welcomed and celebrated my contributions to the village. He has also been a champion supporter of our garden club!
Lastly, the EV residents bring their knowledge, creativity, and care to each and every garden meeting. This work would not have been possible without their dedicated participation and enthusiasm.
And while I search for a fulfilling way to share my appreciation, I start by expressing my deepest gratitude to everyone who has shared, cared for, and contributed to making my life and work more healthful, connected, and joyful.
The Process.
Today’s master’s project presentation is non-traditional. The format is reflective of my non-linear, cyclic design process—a process that I adapted from the indigenous author and researcher Margaret Kovach. This process has 6 distinct steps—decolonizing ethics, researcher preparation, research preparation, gathering knowledge, meaning-making, and giving back. There is no specified order to the steps in this process or amount of time required to fulfill each step. Throughout the research, I returned back and forth among the various steps of the process often, sometimes daily. At times, I followed my interests and curiosities. Other times, I allowed my co-researchers to be my guide. I have decided to present in a way that is true to this method. This may seem unusual for some who are used to following a more linear presentation. I favor the flexibility and iterative nature of this process which allows me to confidently engage my audience. I hope that through this presentation you will come to see the benefits and opportunities of this approach.
Margaret Kovach, Indigenous Methodologies
“Each value represents a strand in a web and is integrated and interdependent with the other strands.”
Margaret Kovach, Indigenous Methodologies
“Over the past decade, Indigenous conceptual framing and Indigenous methodological research language have arrived in the academy. To me, this is miyo (a good thing). We create space by not being erased. We claim space by asserting our presence: let us claim Indigenous methodologies and name Indigenous methodologies!”
The Presentation.
For the next 25 minutes, I invite you to participate in this presentation through a Q+A (Question + Answer). The last year of research has been rich with knowledge generation and a 30-minute presentation would just not do it justice. Nor would every component of the research be useful to each and every one of you even if it was longer. Instead, I hope that by providing choices in the form of questions, you all can help me understand what’s important and impactful for you about this research.
The Problem.
Trauma is widespread. Nearly 70% of adults in the U.S. have experienced some type of traumatic event at least once in their lives.
That’s 223.4 million people in the U.S. alone.
In public behavioral health, meaning people receiving care for mental health, substance abuse, and/or life stressors and crises…over 90% of clients have experienced trauma. (National Council for Mental Wellbeing)
What’s more, trauma can have lifelong physical and mental consequences. Its effects can be multi-generational. Trauma rewires the brain and how we view and respond to the world around us.
Given the extensive and long-lasting impacts of trauma and its incredible prevalence in our society, it’s critical that we develop systems and processes that are informed by these traumas and their impacts on our families, friends, neighbors, and fellow community members.
While more research is needed to understand how to properly address trauma in all aspects of our society, many dedicated researchers, practitioners, and designers are working to find solutions. And a crucial first step is getting everyone on the same page about the importance of a trauma-informed approach.
The Project.
Throughout the next half-hour, I’ll be sharing stories, concepts, images, and more about the trauma-informed design process that I developed for my master’s project. This will include some case study impacts [on people and co-design] that I’ve discovered through my work at the transitional housing community, Everyone Village, in Eugene, OR.
This project is set up as “a qualitative study with an exploratory aim.” (Kovach, 2021). The goal of this research was to understand how the many contributing factors of trauma and homelessness impacted a resident’s ability to find healing, wellness, and connection. I experimented with a broad toolset––literature review, conversations, group activities, design projects, etc.— with the aim of facilitating the supportive relationships necessary to generate healthier transitional housing.
These goals are an expression of the epistemic beliefs underpinnings my research process. Margaret Kovach defines epistemology as, “[the] beliefs held about knowledge, where it comes from, and whom it involves.” Upon reading the work of many influential Indigenous scholars like Kovach, I felt an immediate sense of kinship when I discovered the principles of Indigenous knowledge systems. In describing Indigenous epistemologies, Kovach writes about their nature as, “interactional and interrelational, broad-base, whole, inclusive, animate, cyclical, fluid, and spiritual.” In his seminal book, “Research As Ceremony,” Indigenous author and researcher Shawn Wilson writes, “An indigenous paradigm comes from the fundamental belief that knowledge is relational.” Given the complex nature of trauma and homelessness, and the layered needs of people experiencing these crises, the principles of holism, relationality, and relational accountability provided a robust framework for my research. The principles of the Indigenous epistemologies were reflective of the goals and values of a trauma-informed design approach.
Shawn Wilson, Research As Ceremony
“And Indigenous paradigm comes from the fundamental belief that knowledge is relational.”
The Participation.
I’ve given each of you a list of the questions that I’ve prepared to help prompt the sharing of my work. You can ask any of these questions. I’ve prepared notes and visuals for most of them on my Transformative Housing website. You are also welcome to ask other questions that would aid your understanding of my work. Just note, I may not have visuals to share for those. Nevertheless, I appreciate those questions as there are most certainly areas I have neglected to consider and would love to include in my final booklet.
The prepared questions are also available on the Transformative Housing website, via the QR code on the page. Also, if someone asks a question you’re not particularly interested in, feel free to dig through the website in the meantime.
Reviewers feel free to join in on the questions and provide feedback as you see fit. I’ll be sure to leave time at the end of my presentation to provide space for your feedback, as well.
The Prompts.
For the Q+A portion of my presentation, I’ve organized the questions by the steps in my process. To help orient you, I’ll briefly describe each of the six steps and the types of questions you would find in each category.
The ‘Decolonizing Ethics’ step aims to understand the “felt experience of colonialism and its impact on [Indigenous] people and knowledges.” (Kovach, 2021). In relation to my project, it meant understanding the power dynamics and relationships present in my research and committing to relational ethics that centered on consent, transparency, and accountability. The questions in this step are focused on the philosophical, ethical, and theoretical underpinnings of my research.
Margaret Kovach describes “Researcher Preparation” as, “the experiential aspect of the research, including space for the inward knowing arising from personal experience.” Indigenous communities place a high value on experiential knowledge (Kovach, 2021). This step helped me to explore my motivations and purpose for the research and to gain a better understanding of my influence on the work and the relationships of the research. The questions in this step explore aspects of my histories and my inward journey throughout the process.
The “Research Preparation” phase is about defining the research direction and selecting the appropriate methods to honor an Indigenous theoretical framing, including the standardized qualitative research design. The collection of questions for this step center on the specific research questions, methods, and design for knowledge gathering.
“Gathering Knowledge” is an extension of the Research Preparation step. The collection of questions for this step highlights the knowledge gathered around the nature of trauma and homelessness and the use of trauma-informed design to support resident needs.
“Meaning Making” is an opportunity to interpret the knowledges gathered. The questions of this step are related to my findings from the research and assessing the overall impact of my trauma-informed design process at Everyone Village.
Lastly, the “Giving Back” step is an opportunity to fulfill your duties as a researcher by providing the findings of the research. It’s also an important step to ensure that the research participants understand and accept how the research will be disseminated. The collection of questions for this step center on the various ways that I have aimed to build reciprocity, consent, and transparency into my process.
“If we rub away the layer of powerful research lingo from Indigenous conceptual framing, what lies beneath is Indigenous knowledges—knowledges that have existed since time immemorial and will prevail so long as Indigenous peoples walk this earth.”
— Margaret Kovach, Indigenous Methodologies
The Performance.
Okay, now that we’ve gone over the basics of the presentation, I have just a couple more logistical notes before we jump in.
On the flip side of the questions document I gave you, I have included space for your feedback. Whether an appreciation, a coaching tip, a resource, or an evaluation of my process or designs, I welcome it. This is work I intend to continue doing at Everyone Village post-graduation so your feedback would not only help me but also the Everyone Village community. Thanks in advance for your participation!
And, since I will be fully engaged for the next hour, I am taking an audio recording of today’s presentation so I can refer back to the notes and feedback that I receive at a later time. The notes will aid the development of my final booklet to be shared in the UO Scholars Bank.