Care for the public: trauma-informed service design

Across the globe, public service design sits at a crossroads. As governments increasingly rely on digital tools and data to improve services, the pace of delivery often outpaces the capacity for reflection, repair, and relational trust. In this keynote, Rachael Dietkus invites us to reframe care as not just an interpersonal value, but a structural one – a foundation for ethical, trauma-responsive public service.

With a background in civic tech, social work, and trauma-informed design in the United States federal government and beyond, Rachael offers international insights into how care can serve as a guiding principle across public systems. She asks: What would it look like if service design prioritised healing as much as efficiency? And how will we shift our metrics of success from throughput to trust?

This talk is a part of an ongoing call to action for designers, policymakers, and public leaders to centre care at every decision-making level. To truly serve the public, we must learn how to care for the public.