Sensory rooms — fun for all the family right here in the Illawarra
By Olivia Burt
A safe and secure space for all ages and abilities, built for the community, by the community
right here for you in the Illawarra.
The Horsely CareWays Community Centre has a multi-sensory room that provides a safe, non-
threatening environment for individuals with or without cognitive and physical impairments to experience the world in a very different way. Through the use of materials like fibre optics
sprays, bubble tubes, music, colour, lighting and aromas, it helps individuals explore sensory
stimulation and experiences.
In 2017, the Horsley Community Centre in Dapto welcomed a multi-sensory room, the first of
its kind in the Illawarra region. The room is run by CareWays Community. This multi-sensory
space opens up a safe and stimulating environment for all members of the community as a
safe and enjoyable space. There’s no clinical feel and CareWays Community aims to remove
struggles for families trying to access the room — problems that are typical of multi-sensory
rooms.
The Sensory Space at Horsley Community Centre has removed barriers and opened its doors
to all members of the community. It is a support service and a safe space for families, carers
and individuals to engage with sensory equipment as a leisure experience.
Why do we need sensory rooms?
Before we go into the why, we need to recognise the what and the how; what is the sensory
system and how does it work? Our senses react everyday to changes in our environment. To
optimise function within ourselves, our sensory system needs to remain calm, to be receptive
and ready to focus.
If elements occur that are outside of our optimised functionality, for example, stress, anxiety
and even excitement, individuals can implement strategies to calm ourselves and bring us
back to a more and receptive function. However, staying optimised or finding strategies that
work can sometimes be difficult for some individuals.
Individuals that find it difficult to input strategies and control their level of functionality, can be
assisted through the use of multi-sensory rooms. The multi-sensory experience has the
opportunity to help those individuals regain control and be more receptive to others whilst
overall enjoying the experience. They can be as stimulated or as calm as they prefer in the
room.
Who can use the Sensory Room?
Absolutely anyone!
Originally, sensory rooms were created to help individuals with cognitive and physical
impairments. Regular exposure to multi-sensory rooms have been shown to be beneficial to
the majority of the community. It improves concentration and focus as well as mobilisation,
and promotes creativity, cognitive development, social, and communication skills. They have
also been shown to reduce repetitive behaviour, anxiety, apathy and restlessness in people
with developmental disabilities and dementia. The multisensory room at CareWays
Community Horsley provides people in the community with a safe and secure environment to
explore sensory stimulation.
The Multisensory room is open 7 days per week by booking, and can be found at 82 Bong
Bong Road Horsely, NSW 2530. More information about CareWays Community and bookings
are available at either:
https://www.careways.org.au/sensory-room
https://www.uow.edu.au/engage/grants-funding/cegs/project-showcase/sensory-room/about/