Designing Safely: Safeguarding + Trauma-Informed Practice with Ali Fawkes (Humanly)

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This is HCD – Human-Centered Design, UX & Service Design Thinking Podcast

Gerry Scullion

326 episodes

5 days ago

Welcome to This is HCD – Human-Centered Design, UX & Service Design Thinking Podcast, the global show for designers, innovators, and changemakers who want to create better products, services, and experiences. Hosted by Gerry Scullion, with over 1-million downloads worldwide. Each episode dives into conversations with leading voices in service design, UX design, interaction design, customer experience, and design strategy. Together, we explore the methods, mindsets, and real-world stories that bring human-centered design and design thinking to life. Whether you’re a UX researcher, service design practitioner, product manager, or design leader, you’ll find actionable insights, practical tools, and inspiration to elevate your practice and drive meaningful change. Tune in and join the global human-centered design community — learn how to design with purpose, create inclusive solutions, and shape a more thoughtful future.

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Designing Safely: Safeguarding + Trauma-Informed Practice with Ali Fawkes (Humanly)

This is HCD – Human-Centered Design, UX & Service Design Thinking Podcast

20 minutes

1 month ago

Designing Safely: Safeguarding + Trauma-Informed Practice with Ali Fawkes (Humanly)

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Design isn’t just creativity — it’s care. In this episode, Gerry sits down with Ali Fawkes, Head of Social Innovation at Humanly (founded by Jenni Parker) to unpack practical safeguarding and trauma-informed practice in design research. We trace Ali’s unconventional route from fine art and special education into service design, talk honestly about imposter feelings and labels, and get concrete about how to design safely — for participants and practitioners — especially on sensitive, high-stakes work.

You’ll learn

How non-traditional backgrounds become real superpowers in design
What “designing safely” actually looks like (policies, consent, escalation paths)
How to prepare teams for disclosures (e.g., hopelessness/suicidality) without freezing the work
Why safer practice reassures clients and improves outcomes

Guest: Ali Fawkes, Head of Social Innovation, Humanly (London)

Connect with Ali on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alifawkes

Shout-out to SDinGov for the spark.

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Creators & Guests

Gerry Scullion - Host
Ali Fawkes - Guest