We built our multi-sensory environment on wheels with community in mind. It’s a health and wellness resource that can be used by children, young adults and the elderly in schools, hospitals and care facilities, first-responder communities, and so many more. Instead of using medication to calm or engage people, let's stimulate their senses instead.
The Multi-Sensory Room is almost ready to hit the road! Due to COVID-19 we have experienced delays in opening. Read on to learn more about the van and how you will be able to book it to visit your home or workplace.
Sight. Sound. Touch. Smell. Taste. The world is full of sensory stimuli and we don’t all respond in the same way. Some of us struggle to find ways to make sense of, balance, and regulate our physical, cognitive, emotional, and social responses to what’s going on in our lives, especially in times of stress and high anxiety.
Multi-sensory environments (sometimes referred to as Snoezelen® Rooms*) are safe, relaxing spaces, designed to stimulate the senses to bring peace, calm, and wellness. Appropriate for all ages and abilities, the NSDRC’s Mobile Multi-sensory Room can be customized with a multi-sensory or single-sensory focus. Gentle light, soothing sound, relaxing smells, and touch can calm those feeling agitated and anxious; exciting visuals, music, sounds and touch can engage and stimulate those feeling disconnected and withdrawn.
The opportunity to benefit from the Mobile Multi-sensory Room lies anywhere across the Lower Mainland where people experience anxiety and stress and need a space to relax and ground themselves.
* Multi-sensory environments were first created by Dutch therapists in the 1970s and were called Snoezelen® Rooms (the word Snoezelen is a contraction of the Dutch verbs “snuffelen” - to seek and explore, and “doezelen” - to relax).
Here is some of the equipment you will find inside our mobile multi-sensory environment. Please note that due to current COVID-19 health restrictions, fabric items that require frequent laundering may not be available to you during your session.
Working for a community for all is our mission and the drive behind what we do at NSDRC. The Mobile Multi-sensory Room is a true community resource; in addition to its use in NSDRC programming, our friendly and reliable facilitators travel across the Lower Mainland to share it with others.
The opportunity to benefit from our multi-sensory environment lies anywhere people experience anxiety and stress and need a space to relax and ground themselves. We work with our partners to customize Mobile Multi-sensory Room packages to meet specific user and organizational needs. Some organizations schedule our multi-sensory environment to be onsite once or twice a month, to complement other self-care resources they make available to their employees, students, residents, and clients. Other organizations choose to use the van at special events and engagements held throughout the year.
When the mobile multi-sensory room is ready for bookings, we will update this page. If you have specific questions we haven't covered here, please contact Kathleen Jessop at k.jessop@nsdrc.org.
Thank you to our Mobile Multi-sensory Room sponsors
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3158 Mountain Highway
North Vancouver, BC
V7K 2H5
phone: 604-985-5371
fax: 604-985-7594
email: nsdrc@nsdrc.org
The NSDRC was started by a group of families in 1976. In the years since, we have worked for a "Community for All" by developing and providing residential services, infant development programs, youth groups, community based services, and information and advocacy.