Main Page

Homes That Heal

The Haven Homes project is part of an effort to develop new ways for housing to better serve individuals and society. So far, through this project we have built two trauma recovery housing facilities for women:

Haven House

A safe, relaxing group home for women undergoing partial hospitalization or intensive outpatient trauma therapy. Designed for health, harmony, and happiness with emphases on natural materials, art immersion, and animal companionship.

Cloud Nine Studios

Small, quiet apartments with nearly all the features of a full home, sized for a single individual. Designed especially for long-term healing from serious trauma for women who wish to live on their own or with up to three cats.

What Makes These Homes Different?

Living in these homes is unlike being anywhere else. Some of these differences come from management practices, like our quiet policy or the free benefits for people with cats. Hundreds of other differences are built into the environment to create a truly unique living experience. These differences fall into three broad categories:

Trauma-Informed Design

Trauma-informed design is an emerging, multidisciplinary approach to creating spaces that are safe, supportive, and conducive to healing for individuals who have experienced trauma. Here, practically all aspects of the environment have been made through the lens of trauma-informed design, ensuring its most basic tenets were followed before branching out.

Therapeutic Modalities

Building on this foundation, we aimed to create an inherently therapeutic environment, i.e., one where people experience specific, measurable psychological benefits. Specifically, we set out to identify the most prevalent barriers that could possibly be mediated through environmental changes and take steps in the home environment to help break down those barriers.

Animal-Supportive Architecture

Animal-supportive architecture moves beyond a human-centered view to recognize and value the place of animals within our built environment. Also known as animal-centered design or animal-aided design, ASA represents a multifaceted approach to architectural and design practices that prioritizes the well-being and needs of animals alongside those of humans.