Strengthening our trauma-informed research approach through practical changes
Examples of how we consider trauma and its impact, before, during, and after research sessions. There are no examples of trauma mentioned.
Lucy Pickering is a user experience and content strategist at William Joseph
In the summer of 2024, we shared how we had been strengthening our trauma-informed approach, particularly for user research and testing sessions. At the time, we focused on fundamental principles of safety, trust, collaboration, empowerment and hope and how they apply across all stages of user research and testing.
It is a priority that we have continued to work on, and these are some ways we have applied and developed it since then in our work with clients, including NSPCC, Little Village, the Association for Laboratory Medicine and The Film and TV Charity.
Checking in regularly
In our original post, we highlighted that trauma-informed practice is a continual process. To make this a reality, we’ve moved beyond ad-hoc reflections. We have a core group of four who meet every month and simply discuss:
‘what has come up?’ where review past sessions for unexpected triggers or bias
‘what is upcoming?’ where we proactively identify risks and extra measures needed for new projects
These sessions are relatively short, but help us to surface things we’re concerned about, in line with the principles of trust and accountability. By creating a dedicated space to surface concerns, we ensure that the responsibility for safety isn’t carried by a single researcher but is held by the whole team.
Evolving our processes
The actions from these check-ins help to review and make changes to our processes where needed.
As we previously noted, trauma-informed measures are often like digital accessibility: they are essential for some but beneficial for everyone.
Here are some examples of how we’ve tweaked our processes.
Creating more time and space to discuss our positionality as a research team
Our first blog touched on ‘not speaking for people.’ To ensure we don’t slip into this, we often explicitly discuss our positionality before starting a project. By acknowledging our own social, cultural, and political contexts, we can better minimise bias and prepare ourselves for the sensitive topics we may encounter. This directly supports the principle of collaboration and equity by ensuring we aren’t imposing our own worldviews on participants’ stories.
This consideration has also helped us as a team to surface potentially difficult topics for us, so we can be better prepared if they come up during research. It also helps to identify where there might be gaps in our understanding and experience as a research team.
Continuing to introduce our partners to a trauma-informed approach
We value the work we’ve done in this area and we’re keen to share it with those we collaborate with.
Some measures include:
introducing the trauma-informed principles in every project proposal that includes research or testing
sharing a summary with new freelancers working on research with us
working closely with our recruitment partner to make the participant experience as well-designed as possible
Maintaining principles, regardless of recruitment approach
We typically have two different approaches to participant recruitment. We either source and select participants through:
our specialist recruitment partner from their database
our clients’ networks
We recommend the first option, where the budget allows, as it brings multiple benefits. Whichever approach we take, we ensure that we apply trauma-informed principles across the participant experience.
Reviewing how we manage consent, client engagement and anonymity
Our original approach emphasised ‘continuous consent.’ We’ve updated this to reflect new technologies.
When using evolving features in our research software, we’re updating our consent approach. For example, video clips may include participant names and so we need to ensure that we’ve been explicit in our informed consent that this may be shared. This also applies to AI features, such as generated transcripts.
In line with the empowerment principle, participants need to know exactly how their image and voice will be processed and shared, ensuring they feel in total control of their data.
Reducing anxiety with SMS reminders
We’ve had feedback from participants that they can find email and calendar invites overwhelming or easy to miss. A simple text reminder (with prior consent) provides a warm, low-pressure prompt that supports the principle of safety. We’ve trialled this and are planning to implement it more widely using a low-cost external service, which doesn’t expose our mobile numbers to the public.
Continuous learning
Trauma-informed principles are a practice, not a checklist. We have committed to continuous learning in this area to help us to understand the prevalence and impact of trauma. This involves time-blocking some time each month to read, listen and watch what has been shared by our design community.
‘Designing for Safety’ sessions from Chayn
As ever, the team we continue to learn the most from is the global not-for-profit Chayn. In January, we joined the first of their series of ‘Designing for Safety’ sessions. The team gave a reminder of their principles and highlighted that designing services is not neutral. As designers (or product managers or marketers), we make decisions that can harm or heal. Looking forward to future sessions.
‘Designed with Care: Creating trauma-informed content’
We’ve learnt so much from the brilliant contributors to the book ‘Designed with Care: Creating trauma-informed content’, edited by Rachel Edwards. We’re glad to see Rachel leading a panel on ‘Trauma-informed perspectives: building best practice’ at the Working in Content conference in April 2026.
‘Why struggling customers don’t see your help’
Another highlight that has been particularly relevant in the continuing cost of living crisis has been Kevin Bergen’s article ‘Why struggling customers don’t see your help’, and what UX research can do to fix it. It reminds us that shame, not apathy, is often the barrier to engagement.
What’s next?
Ultimately, these measures and refinements – from SMS reminders to positionality sessions – are about more than just ‘best practice.’ They are about creating an environment where participants feel safe enough to be honest and where our team feels supported enough to do their best work. When we design for the most vulnerable among us, we create a better, more inclusive experience for everyone.
As we look toward the rest of 2026, we remain dedicated to the idea that design and research are never neutral. Every decision we make is an opportunity to build trust and prevent harm. We’re proud of how far our approach has come since 2024, and we look forward to continuing this work alongside our partners and the wider design community.
If you’d like to learn more or talk to us about our trauma-informed research approach, we’d love to hear from you.
We’re also hosting a free event for those getting started with user research in London in May 2026.