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Snoezelen room to be an oasis of calm in Coquitlam

The Tri-Cities is getting its first community snoezelen room. Debra Abraham of the Unique Get Together Society says she has secured space in Coquitlam’s Lincoln Centre complex (3030 Lincoln Ave.
Debra Abraham
Debra Abraham, of the Unique Get Together Society, tosses a tactile toy in the room at Lincoln Centre she will be converting to the first community snoezelen room in the province. The room, which provides controlled sensorty stimulation for people living with autisma, anxiety and even physical challenges, will be a month-long pilot project in partnership with Lincoln Centre, after which Abraham hopes to have secured enough funding to make it a permanent fixture.

The Tri-Cities is getting its first community snoezelen room.

Debra Abraham of the Unique Get Together Society says she has secured space in Coquitlam’s Lincoln Centre complex (3030 Lincoln Ave.) for the month of June to introduce the community to the uses and benefits of a snoezelen room and to launch a fundraising drive in hopes of making the facility a permanent fixture.

A snoezelen room is a relaxing, isolated environment where visitors are calmed by controlled stimulation of their senses by gentle music or recorded sounds of nature, multi-coloured points of light from fibre optic lamps, tactile toys, scents from essential oils, soft furniture and massaging slippers. The idea, Abraham said, is to desensitize the nervous system.

That can make a visit to a snoezelen room beneficial to people living with autism or anxiety, and to seniors suffering dementia. It can even be therapeutic for people with physical limitations.

Abraham, who has operated such a room privately in her Coquitlam home, said her search for a public, community space hasn’t been easy.

“What I had in mind was a place off the beaten track that wasn’t so busy,” she said.

Getting away from the hubbub of urban life is a key component of the snoezelen experience, Abraham said, especially for people living with autism or anxiety.

“People are overwhelmed when they go outside,” she said.

The room will be outfitted with the help of a Spirit Grant the society was awarded last fall by the city of Coquitlam. The money will buy things like bubble tubes, special lights, projectors and essential oils, Abraham said.

While snoezelen rooms already exist in some hospitals and private care facilities for seniors in the Lower Mainland, this will be the first community facility in the province, Abraham said. Thus, she’s hoping to secure more grants and funding that can help offset the $40-per-hour cost for people that can’t afford to pay.

“We don’t want there to be financial barriers for people to use it,” Abraham said, adding the facility should be running June 1, with an open house scheduled for June 14, at 6 p.m.

For more information, or to book an appointment, go to www.uniquegettogethersociety.com

UGTS aims to raise $ for drug treatment program

The Unique Get Together Society (UGTS) is launching a residential treatment initiative for youths struggling with addiction.

Debra Abraham, the CEO of UGTS, said the new We Are the Voice Society would provide a drug-free environment for young people to combat their addiction through various individual, family and group therapies while developing mentally, socially, emotionally and physically.

“Far too often, adolescents in need fall through the gaps of the system or are in and out of various institutions or homes,” Abraham said in a press release. “They are also frequently without the support needed when they try to re-enter greater society.”

Abraham said she hopes the society’s 24-hour-a-day, year-round treatment model could make a dent in the overdose crisis that claimed 125 lives in British Columbia last January, for instance. She said a fundraising campaign to support the new program will begin soon.

mbartel@tricitynews.com