Free sensory room in Macon used as physical alternative to mental health therapy

Weighted blankets, soft plushies, couches, fidget toys and other textured objects fill a dimly lit room as serene white noise fills the air.

A group of leaders in Macon-Bibb County created Starlight Sensory Room located at Booker T. Washington Community Center. It is the county’s first public sensory room, or a calm, therapeutic space to decompress and lean on one’s five senses, especially for those with developmental disabilities or mental health disorders.

The 2024 class of Leadership Macon by the Greater Macon Chamber of Commerce was tasked to create a service project. Jeremy Grissom, Macon Violence Prevention Coordinator, and Olivia Walter, public relations specialist for Macon-Bibb County, led the project in collaboration with Andrea Cooke, director of Macon Mental Health Matters.

“Often the idea of going to a therapist is scary or intimidating, or people think that makes you weak,” Walter said. “So we tried to come up with different ways for people to find that gateway or entry point, and this is one of those.”

The room, which opened Dec. 13, 2024, is often used as an alternative outlet to communicating with a therapist.

For example, spinning swivel chairs and a cushioned crash pad allow people to release energy. Other items such as puffy weighted blankets and giant Squishmallow plushies do the opposite.

“There is a metaphysical, scientific approach to using it, but we use it for most children who are neurodivergent,” Cooke said. “It kind of forces you to relax.”

Visitors can play background noise from sound machines such as ocean, rain and wind. The low, color-changing lights also encourage tranquility.

A rubber mat on the floor has foot marks to step on to measure one’s trauma based on how well they can balance.

“If you can balance, then you likely have lower levels of trauma,” Cooke said. “It’s amazing the amount of research out now about how to access without being intrusive.”

Trauma can manifest physically through impaired motor control, posture stability and muscle tension as a response to stress, according to a 2024 study in the National Library of Medicine.

It almost feels like one can forget the bustle of the outside world upon entry to the room, located in the building’s basement.

“Incorporating movement-based therapies that focus on proprioception (sense of body position) and balance could mitigate these risks by enhancing bodily awareness and fostering resilience in trauma survivors,” the study said.

The sensory room was deliberately built inside the community center because there are other mental health resources in the building such as therapists and youth and adult readiness programs. Some Bibb County schools and churches also have sensory rooms, but this is the first open to the public, not just students or parishioners.

Leadership Macon used the same room as a yellow-walled office space before transforming it into a bubbly, purple-walled sensory room.

“It’s a happy color. The goal was for us to not be institutionalized anymore, and for it to not look like an office building, but for it to look like a community center,” Cooke told The Telegraph.

Grissom described the space as “small but mighty.”

The 37-year-old said this would have kept him out of trouble as a kid.

“I just imagine a kid having a rough day, or some kids don’t even want to go to school,” he said. “If there’s a truancy issue or an issue at home, this is just the beginning to opening communication and providing access.”

Savannah Grissom, Jeremy Grissom’s 6-year-old daughter, visited the sensory room after school on Friday, Jan. 17.

The room made her feel “happy!” she shouted confidently while spinning up and down on a swivel chair. They don’t have anything like this at Springdale Elementary School, she said.

“I don’t come all the time, but I do ask to come all the time,” Savannah Grissom said, hinting at dad.

The sensory room is free to the public and open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.