**5. Conclusion**

Findings from the teacher and staff interviews support the literature about the impact of calming rooms and dining spaces in supporting students' emotional and self-regulation at the Bruce Vento School environment. There was an overall improved environment in the school, likely because students are able to regulate themselves and are asking to go use the calming room – a safe space where they can get the support they need and return to class. The new space allows staff to support and help students learn how to self-regulate, calm down, and then return to class sooner than before the space was redesigned. As in previous studies [9], students at the school ask to visit the calming room and recognize that it is a dedicated space where they can retreat to and feel safe. Also mirroring previous efforts in nonschool settings, the implementation of the calming room leads to reductions in the amount of physical restraints staff had to use with students [19–21], thus increasing student safety. The data reinforced the strengths of approaching design problem solving through partnerships that seek out multiple perspectives. The simplicity of the final design solution implemented resulted from engaging multiple perspectives through interview of the clients, site visit, research, presentation, and feedback from clients. Likewise, the school community reported the new dining space created an inclusive and communal family style dining environment [22–27]. The round family style dining tables reduced students' traffic and movement to retrieve condiments or utensils from the other end of a long table and this reduced the noise level in the dining space. The school staff observed the family style dining encouraged interaction and socialization among students and the dining space became less institutional and more communal. Additionally, the new teacher sanctuary extended the benefits of the new environment to the school resource staff and teachers. The teacher sanctuary created a space for school staff to rejuvenate and to help support their job of leading children's development [28–30].

Finally, through this collaborative process, interior design students gained disciplinary and civic benefits such as application of their course knowledge, opportunities to connect to the community through real life design issues. The opportunity to visit the existing space and tour with the users to gather information and experience the space physically gave students better understanding of the space, building systems, and requirements for the projects. Overall, all the three design projects led to positive outcomes for the school community. Through the partnership with Bruce Vento Elementary School, a calming room, teacher sanctuary, and family style dining hall were all implemented in the school to build community and create a trauma sensitive environment. Anecdotal evidence shows that this Bruce Vento community building model of creating a trauma sensitive environment that fosters health and well-being has been used as a precedent for other school districts in Minneapolis St Paul.

*Ultimate Guide to Outpatient Care*
