Designing for Every Australian: Trauma-Informed and Emotionally Accessible Digital Experiences
Designing for Every Australian: A Trauma-Informed Approach to Digital Experiences
Session Overview
Australia ranks among the highest in youth bullying within OECD nations, profoundly affecting mental health, particularly in rural and remote communities. This session explores how trauma-informed design can bridge the gap between standard accessibility guidelines and the complex realities faced by Australians dealing with bullying, addiction, and mental health challenges.
What You’ll Learn
Drawing from real-world work with a leading Australian charity focused on youth mental health and anti-bullying, and remote user research conducted across communities in Western Australia and Queensland, this session demonstrates how embedding empathy, trauma awareness, and cognitive accessibility into digital experiences can lead to transformative outcomes for vulnerable users.
You’ll gain:
- Frameworks for translating trauma awareness into actionable design decisions
Techniques for building cognitively accessible interfaces that reduce overwhelm
Strategies for mobile-first, offline-capable design in low-connectivity environments
Methods for safeguarding your team’s emotional wellbeing when working with sensitive topics
Why Attend
Traditional accessibility standards like WCAG don’t address how trauma impacts the way people absorb, process, and respond to information. When triggered, users may struggle to concentrate, make decisions, or engage meaningfully. This session moves beyond compliance to explore how we can design truly inclusive, supportive, and emotionally aware experiences for communities that need it most.
Who Should Attend
UX designers and researchers working with vulnerable or underserved populations
Product managers building digital services for rural and regional communities
Design leaders seeking to embed trauma-informed principles into their practice
Anyone interested in the intersection of mental health, accessibility, and digital experience
Taryn D'Souza
Taryn is a User Experience and Service Design consultant who partners with multiple organisations, including charities focused on social impact. Among her diverse portfolio is significant work designing inclusive, trauma-informed digital experiences. Through collaborations with Australian foundations, Taryn has helped translate real stories of lived experience into impactful, human-centered solutions for people affected by bullying, addiction, and mental health challenges. Her remote user research has reached communities across Western Australia and Queensland, bringing unique insights into the digital needs of isolated communities that inform her broader approach to inclusive design.