My name is Rachael Dietkus (she/her). I am a social worker-designer whose practice, research, and writing center the intersections of anti-oppressive, futures-focused social work values, trauma-responsive principles, and care-focused design research methods.

I founded Social Workers Who Design to help public institutions, civic technologists, and social impact organizations build trauma-informed, care-centered, and ethically grounded design practices. My work asks how public systems can harm or heal—and how design, when shaped by care and accountability, can become part of our collective infrastructure for safety, dignity, and connection.

I earned my Master of Social Work (Advocacy, Leadership & Social Change, 2010) and Bachelor of Arts in Sociology (Social Movements & Social Movement Organizations, 2000) from the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign. From 2019–2021, I completed graduate coursework in UIUC’s MFA in Design for Responsible Innovation, where my thesis focused on Trauma Responsive Design: Addressing the Hidden Gaps in Design Research Methodologies and Practice.

In 2022, I joined the White House as the first social worker-designer at the U.S. Digital Service, contributing to interagency trauma-informed design, research, and strategy. I later served as a Design Supervisor with the U.S. Digital Corps, supporting early-career public servants navigating complex public systems work.

Across local, national, and international contexts, I have served as an AmeriCorps member with the American Red Cross, an NGO delegate to the UN Commission on Human Rights and Human Rights Council, a Mayor-appointed member of the City of Urbana Human Relations Commission, and a Governor-appointed member of Serve Illinois.

My work has spanned trauma-informed disaster recovery efforts with FEMA, public health and behavioral health systems, academic research initiatives, and multiple intergovernmental collaborations. I am an active member of the Design Justice Network and the Social Work Futures Lab, and I am currently writing Trauma by Design, a forthcoming book with MIT Press.

I live in Urbana, Illinois—on the lands of the Peoria, Kaskaskia, Piankashaw, Wea, Miami, Mascoutin, Odawa, Sauk, Meskwaki, Kickapoo, and Potawatomi peoples—where I write, teach, practice design care, and raise my family.