Sensory Room
A sensory room is a specially designed room which combines a range of stimuli to help individuals develop and engage their senses. These can include lights, colours, sounds, music and sensory soft play resources, all used within a safe environment that allows the person using it to explore and interact without risk.
Before we started this project we spoke to a number of individuals and groups to make sure what we had planned made sense and would be of benefit to the community and the wider area. One of the benefits identified by all of the groups we spoke to was socialisation and this is one of the great benefits of sensory rooms, they can be used by individuals or in groups. Using a sensory room with others can help to promote social skills in a safe, calm and stress-free environment. A sensory room can also give an individual that space to relax and enjoy their surroundings.
As it stands there is no provision of sensory services anywhere near Langholm and the need for this kind of service is growing as more and more young people would benefit from facilities for additional support needs, mental health, anxiety, isolation as well as emotional and behavioural development.
The sensory room now forms part of our Youth Centre which is just off Henry Street. We have been in the Youth Centre for just over a year and plenty has changed with the building in that time. As part of the sensory room project, we have removed doors and walls as well as widening doorways for disabled access.
We firmly believe this is one of the best publicly accessible sensory facilities in the region and the feedback on the sensory room to date has been overwhelming. It is a very humbling experience to see the impact that this type of facility can have on a young person. We are passionate about making a real difference to the lives of young people with this project and we are very excited about more people being able to see it and explore the opportunities that it has to offer.
As a charity we rely on funding to do the work we do, and this project was no different. The sensory room project would not have been possible without the funding secured from Crossdykes Community Benefit Fund and the Funders Forum with support coming from The Stevenson Trust, the Arthur Bell Trust, the Bowman Little Trust Fund, the Stoneypath Trust, The Jock and Mary Elliot Memorial Trust and The Ainslie Charitable Trust. We would like to say a huge thank you to all of the funders and we look forward to engaging as many people as possible with the sensory room.
