Webinar: A Trauma-Informed Approach in Museums
Location: Zoom Webinars
Date and time: Tuesday, 24 November 2026, 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM (UTC+2)
Language: Finnish and English
Participation: Free of charge, pre-registration required
The Trauma-Informed Approach in Museums webinar provides an overview of what a trauma-informed practice entails and how it can be applied in museum contexts. The programme features contributions from experts, experts by experience, and representatives from the museum and NGO sectors. They will introduce the core principles of the trauma-informed approach and share practical examples from museum work, mental health services, and volunteer activities. The webinar also explores the relevance of trauma-informed practices in museum pedagogy and education, as well as in audience and community engagement. Participants will engage with a reflection exercise related to the webinar themes. Summaries of the completed exercises will be shared with all participants after the webinar. The aim of the webinar is to strengthen understanding of how to build more safe, accessible, and inclusive museum environments, and to offer practical tools for developing one’s own work.
Program and schedule
Hosts
Inka Yli-Tepsa and Jemina Vainikka Lindholm
1:00-1:05 PM Opening the webinar room and arrival (5 min)
1:05-1:15 PM Webinar Opening (10 min, Finnish/English)
Inka Yli-Tepsa, Chair, Pedaali Association
1:15-1:35 PM Foundations of a Trauma-Informed Approach (20 min, Finnish)
Kati Sarvela, Dentist, Non-fiction Author and Therapist
Santtu Merjanaho, Psychologist and Doctoral Researcher
What are the SAMHSA principles of a trauma-informed approach, and how do they appear in everyday professional practice? This session explores how a trauma-informed approach provides professionals across different fields with a shared language for understanding adverse and traumatic experiences, as well as practical ways of engaging with individuals and communities from a place of nervous system stability. Particular emphasis will be placed on gender sensitivity, historical and cultural sensitivity, and cultural humility.
Kati Sarvela is a dentist, non-fiction author, and therapist specializing in hypnotherapy and sensorimotor psychotherapy. She is a pioneering trainer of trauma-informed practice in Finland and has been training professionals from various sectors in trauma-informed approaches since 2018.
Santtu Merjanaho is a psychologist and doctoral researcher. He has extensive experience as a student psychologist in higher education settings and deep expertise in the possibilities of trauma-informed practice. His doctoral research focuses on ways of strengthening connections with nature.
1:35-1:50 PM Q&A (15 min, Finnish)
Kati Sarvela, Santtu Merjanaho and Inka Yli-Tepsa
1:50-1:55 PM Break (5 min)
1:55-2:15 PM What Would a Trauma-Informed Museum Look Like? Revisiting the Question Through Clinical Practice (20 min, English)
Zoe Large, Child and Adolescent Psychoanalytic Psychotherapist, NHS
What would it take for a museum to move beyond running a trauma-informed project, to become a trauma-informed institution? Drawing on a Winston Churchill Fellowship exploring what museums might learn from trauma-informed healthcare, Zoe Large returns to one case from that research: an artist-led response to an HIV/AIDS exhibition which invited visitors to question what had been left out. Now working as a child and adolescent psychotherapist, she revisits the case through the lens of her clinical practice. She considers the limits of even thoughtful, participatory work, and asks whether becoming trauma-informed depends less on adopting the right framework than on an institution’s capacity to stay open to difficult and unexpected experience.
Zoe Large is a Child and Adolescent Psychoanalytic Psychotherapist working in NHS child and adolescent mental health services in South East London, where her work includes supporting looked-after and adopted children and their families. Before training clinically, she worked in youth participation and service development and completed an MA in Museum Studies at University College London. She was awarded a Winston Churchill Fellowship in 2017, and her report What Would a Trauma-Informed Museum Look Like? was published in 2019.
2:15-2:35 PM Context, Connection, Choice: Trauma-Informed Practice for Everyday Museum Work (20 min, English)
Jackie Armstrong, Visitor Researcher and Museum Educator, The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA)
Trauma-informed practice in museums is not only about responding to difficult content or moments of distress. It can shape everyday decisions about how we welcome and orient visitors, invite participation, ask questions, design programs, and respond when someone needs something different. Drawing on her work in visitor research, accessibility, facilitation, and well-being, Jackie Armstrong will introduce a practical framework centered on context, connection, and choice, along with examples of Trauma-Informed Inquiry. Participants will leave with simple questions and strategies they can adapt to museum education, audience engagement, and community work.
Jackie Armstrong is a visitor researcher and museum educator at The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York, where she leads visitor research and evaluation. Her work brings together qualitative research, accessibility, trauma-informed practice, and well-being to support more inclusive and responsive museum experiences. She helped develop MoMA’s Artful Practices for Well-Being initiative and the Coursera course of the same name. She also consults with and leads trainings for museums, cultural institutions, and other organizations on trauma-informed practice, visitor research, accessibility, and audience experience.
2:35-2:50 PM Q&A (15 min, English)
Jackie Armstrong, Zoe Large and Jemina Vainikka Lindholm
2:50-2:55 PM Break (5 min)
2:55-3:25 PM Belonging, Participation, and Strengths: Supporting Wellbeing in Diverse Communities (30 min, English)
Hope Makara, Social Worker, MIELI Without Borders and MIELI Mental Health Finland
What helps people feel welcome, valued, and able to participate? Drawing on lived experience and community-based work with immigrants and international residents in Finland, this presentation explores how belonging, participation, and a strengths-based approach can support wellbeing in diverse communities. Participants will be introduced to practical principles and examples from NGO work that help create more inclusive spaces where people can contribute, connect, and build on their existing strengths and resources.
Hope Makara is a licensed social worker and one of the founders of MIELI Without Borders, a member organization of MIELI Mental Health Finland and a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting migrant mental health. She is passionate about mental health and finding everyday ways to support well-being. She enjoys supporting others on their well-being journeys and creating spaces where people feel connected and understood.
3:25–3:30 PM Introduction to the Reflection Exercise (5 min, Finnish/English)
Jemina Vainikka Lindholm, Board Member, Pedaali Association
3:30–3:45 PM Working on the Reflection Exercise in Padlet (15 min, Finnish/English)
The reflection exercise is completed independently on your own computer. Alternatively, you may attend the seminar together with your colleagues or another group using the same computer, in which case the reflection exercise can also be completed collaboratively.
3:45-3:55 PM Closing Remarks (10 min, Finnish/English)
Jemina Vainikka Lindholm, Board Member, Pedaali Association
3:55-4:00 PM Closing the Connection and Departure (5 min)
Participation
Please register for the webinar by Friday, 20 November 2026 using this registration form.
The webinar has space for a total of 300 participants. Please note that registration is binding. Each registration form can be used to register one participant only.
Accessibility and Safer Space
The webinar is free of charge. The working languages of the webinar are Finnish and English. Zoom Webinar includes an optional live captioning feature. The webinar follows safer space principles.
Further Information
Pedaali Association Secretary
info@pedaali.fi
Jemina Vainikka Lindholm
lindholm.jemina@gmail.com