HOME FAE HOME
Co-designing spaces with young people to help reduce stress levels
In collaboration with designer Linsey McIntosh we have been leading Home fae Home, a project completed in 2023 with Dundee youth work organisation, Hot Chocolate Trust, after a successful funding bid with The Life Changes Trust in February 2019.
Hot Chocolate operates from The Steeple. They work with marginalised and wary young people using community development and informal education approaches. Hot Chocolate provides a ‘Home fae Home’, when many of the young people are care experienced or on the edge of care, and feel like they don’t belong in their own communities.
Their space has become problematic as Hot Chocolate’s work has grown. The young people have felt frustrated by the layout and lack of diversity, highlighting a need to spatially reconfigure.
Hot Chocolate also explore trauma and its impact on the young people. The development of trauma informed practice (TIP) is now a priority for them. The focus of TIP is on the importance of relationships, but there’s a gap when it comes to the impact of environments upon recovery.
The project combines these two needs: to co-design the Hot Chocolate space with the young people, and through a trauma informed practice lens.
The Home fae Home co-design team is comprised of around 80 young people from Hot Chocolate, at least 20 staff and volunteers, and a trauma advisor.
Linsey and Gary attended youth work sessions in order to establish good relationships and trust with the young people throughout May/June 2019.
The first series of co-design workshops took place in July 2019. ‘A Building Project’ revolved around prompting the young people with questions, with responses expressed on cardboard ‘Building Boards’ which slotted together to create a large-scale installation, framed by a ‘house’ silhouette. This represented the thoughts of the young people as to how space affects their anxiety levels. The outcomes were analysed, and twelve themes were established, such as ‘Come for a Cosie’, which highlighted the need to feel enveloped.
These themes were utilised within the next series of ‘Mood Board’ workshops in October 2019, which commenced with a ‘safari’, with the young people exploring the space to capture spatial opportunities with Polaroid cameras. They were encouraged to engage with the 3D ‘Mood Board’ to consider how each of the themes could ‘look’ within Hot Chocolate. During this exercise, the young people could select imagery, draw or write in order to express ideas. Following analysis, we uncovered three spatial themes.
This ‘proptastic’ approach, embedded in our work, is based on the belief that everyone has the ability to be part of a design process if given the right tools. Bespoke objects, which DJCAD students assisted with prototyping, were used as a vehicle to allow the young people to communicate feelings towards a sensitive subject. Feedback sessions ensured voices were heard and genuine collaboration was maintained.
We visualised a proposal in November 2020. Due to pandemic related challenges this was reconfigured in 2022. Linsey and Gary undertook the Kiltwalk in August 2022 to assist with fundraising, and the co-design process continued with a new wave of young people through ‘Home’ themed workshops in November 2022.
Within the current scheme, the themes of ‘Forest’, ‘Identi-Space’ and ‘Worlds within Worlds’ become physical entities in the forgotten balcony space and hall. Tiered social seating and pod-like ‘Homes’ will offer adaptable environments for engagement and trauma informed youth work. The lo-fi feel is a cherished approach from the young people.
Benefits
The young people have been at heart of the design decision making process, and are valued as experts of their own experiences. They have grown in self-worth; improved social skills; increased their sense of ownership, agency and pride; developed new skills and experiences relating to design; been exposed to aspirational career pathways; developed more understanding about the impacts of trauma; and gained a sense of hope that healing is possible.
Home fae Home has been a participatory action research project, whereby the young people were not just co-designers, but co-researchers. This is important, as despite TIP being a national policy and practice priority in Scotland, there is little research around the role of physical space. Through collaboration with Hot Chocolate and the specialist trauma advisor, this project will be shared through events, publications and networks to contribute to this national development area.
For us, Home fae Home has allowed us to continue to add to our folio of public engagement projects. We will use the learning to contribute to enhancing Dundee as a UNESCO City of Design, providing an opportunity for community groups to shape their city. Our practice-based research will continue to inform our teaching approaches, and will be disseminated through lectures and workshop activities to enhance student skill sets. We have developed a deeper understanding of how the collaborative design of space can impact on well-being and recovery, as well as how taking time to establish meaningful connections assists in breaking down barriers to engagement. We have also extended our knowledge as to how 3D props can be creative stimulants to actively engage people.
Home fae Home has been an ambitious project which will have a significant legacy – the impact will be felt not only by the current community of young people, but also on future generations. The project has focused on building relationships and trust, as well as physical spaces, and has highlighted the positive impact that design engagement can have upon people’s lives.
Collaboration Linsey McIntosh
Photographer Peter Dibdin
