Sensory rooms expand across Miami University’s campus
University-wide sensory rooms provide spaces devoted to relaxation and sensory development
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Published
Sensory rooms expand across Miami University’s campus
University-wide sensory rooms provide spaces devoted to relaxation and sensory development
•
Published
Miami University has several sensory rooms in on-campus buildings that are accessible to everyone and are particularly helpful to neurodiverse students and employees.
One sensory room in particular is the Student Counseling Services Relaxation room, which is available to all students. Located in the waiting room of SCS, on the second floor of the Cleveland Clinic Health Services building, the room serves as a wellness check for students to reconnect with themselves as they face the stresses of college life.
“When we came up with the concept of the relaxation room, we at the Student Counseling Services believed it would be really meaningful and important to have a holding space where students could go and be present with themselves and regulate before stepping back into everyday life,” says Rebecca Stone, Ph.D., a mental health clinician at SCS.
Through a Mental Health Incubator Fund, provided by the Ohio Department of Education, and with the help of Steve Large, assistant vice president of health and wellness, the room was created in 2024 and provides students with a variety of activities and relaxation tools.
Some of the features of the relaxation room include a full-size massage chair, a beanbag with a weighted blanket, fidget toys, a resource library, and a water-painting activity.
Stone and other clinicians work in the Student Counseling Services on campus. She believes that the uniqueness of these sensory rooms and wellness spaces on campus provides students with a different perspective and, ultimately, improves their mental health.
“Having these rooms throughout the campus allows students to have a space that feels different from a lot of what other areas of campus might feel like,” Stone said. “Whether they’re doing homework or decompressing, these spaces allow for everyday tasks to feel more manageable.”
Other sensory spaces on campus include the Oxford Wellness Studio and the TriHealth Wellness Room, both located in the Health Sciences Building, the Miller Center Sensory Room in the Shriver Center, the Mindfulness Center in McGuffey Hall, and the Ford Family Meditation Room in Armstrong Student Center. Additionally, there are sensory study rooms in King Library and Armstrong Student Center.
More information is available online about sensory spaces and wellness rooms on campus.
Established in 1809, Miami University is located in Oxford, Ohio, with regional campuses in Hamilton and Middletown, a learning center in West Chester, and a European study center in Luxembourg.