Principles

Trauma-informed content is designed with an understanding that users may be overwhelmed, vulnerable or carrying difficult experiences. It avoids shame, blame and ambiguity. It’s clear, respectful, and empowering. The tone is calm. The structure is predictable. And the goal is always to reduce harm while supporting users to take action.

Not quite. Plain English and empathy are essential, but trauma-informed content goes further. It’s rooted in evidence from psychology, accessibility, and service design. It considers how power dynamics, cognitive overload and lived experience shape how people read and react. It also looks beyond individual pages to the full content journey—tone, timing, sequencing, and what happens when things go wrong.

Yes and no. Good content design already puts users first. But traditional user research often focuses on functionality: what people want to do, where they struggle, and what information they need. It rarely explores users’ emotional state, trauma history or how stress affects comprehension and decision-making.

Trauma-informed content builds on existing best practice by explicitly accounting for emotional and cognitive barriers. It considers how power, shame, fear or fatigue affect someone’s ability to engage, even when the content is factually correct and well structured. It doesn’t replace user needs research. It deepens it.

Not at all. Any organisation that communicates decisions, consequences, or sensitive information can benefit. That includes banks, councils, utility firms, housing providers, insurers—even retail. Trauma-informed content isn’t about softening everything. It’s about meeting people where they are, especially when life gets hard.

I start by understanding your users, your goals and your current content. That might involve a trauma-informed audit, interviews with frontline staff, or reviewing complaint data. Then I work with your team to redesign content, train writers, and build guidelines that last. The process is collaborative, evidence-led and always tailored to your context.