Help us raise £20,000 to create a Sensory Room at The Burrows for Children and Adolescent Mental Health Services

The aim of this project is to build a multi-sensory comfort room on The Burrows ward at Berrywood Hospital. It will be used in numerous ways, able to be adapted to a patients individual needs and requirements at the time. This invaluable new area will accommodate and enhance therapies, activities and sessions as well as providing a safe comfortable place for them to simply watch movies etc.

The Burrows supports young people aged between 13 and 18 with a range of complex mental health conditions. Offering bed stays lasting on average 14 to 24 weeks, staff use therapies supported by a multi-disciplinary team who provide a range of interventions.

The room will be somewhere that service-users can develop skills to promote self-management of distress and anxiety. They will also be able to build coping skills that can be used in the long-term following discharge. The calming coping strategies they learn can be taken home and the processes shared with family, to further help them.

Whats more, in some cases where appropriate it will allow families to get involved during visits too, being able to show them first-hand the kind of calming environment and therapeutic activities that will aid in the management of, and recovery from, certain conditions.

There is a spacious bathroom on the ward that is rarely ever used, so creating this sensory space here will allow staff to fully utilise the space. They will be able to deliver a wide-range of therapies and activities in a perfect calm environment, aiding positive outcomes with treatments for their young patients.

Sensory spaces like this have been found to be hugely beneficial for people suffering with a wide-range of mental health conditions. It will also cater for the increasing numbers of service-users with needs that fall outside of general mental health, such as Autism Spectrum Disorder, ADHD and Learning Difficulties.

As well as also providing an alternative to the traditional de-escalation room, it will work perfectly alongside another ward-based project of creating a more tactile and sensory garden area.

Unfortunately, supplying this type of room for therapies and activities falls outside of what the NHS provides. We would like to help raise funds in order for staff at The Burrows to provide this wonderful above and beyond initiative to the young people across Northamptonshire who require a stay with them.

This room would make a world of difference to local young people with complex mental health needs. They would also have the bonus of getting involved with painting the room once it is being created, giving them even more of a sense of involvement and accomplishment.

Our sensory room aims to offer a safe space where young people can be supported to regulate their arousal levels, learn new coping strategies and build therapeutic relationships to help aid them in their recovery. It will also have the potential to be used as a social space for the young people, staff and families to communicate, engage in activities and build trust, resilience and self-esteem. Laura Marshall, Senior Occupational Therapist, CAMHS

Items to kit out the room include:

1. Projector and screen

2. LED ceiling panels

3. Bubble tube

4. Big bean bags

5. Soft furnishings

Please help us to create this wonderful sensory space for young people at The Burrows, to aid their treatment and recovery.

You can do this by making a donation or by getting involved with some fundraising.

Contact the charity t: 01604 626927, e: greenheart@nhcf.co.uk,

w: www.nhcfgreenheart.co.uk.

Thank you!