“Somebody could be very aggravated and upset and calling out, and if you take this person into the Snoezelen room, with its soft music, and you give them a hand message, it’s very effective in calming them,” says Carrie Ennett, restorative care aide and the home’s Snoezelen coordinator.

About 75% of the time the room plays a therapeutic role, she says, yet ensuring the resident is returned to a similarly comforting environment is the best post-Snoezelen therapy.

“You don’t want to calm someone down only to return them to the source of their agitation,” says Carrie. “I find that if you bring them back to their room away from noise and outside stimulation it’s most effective. You don’t want something that is going to set them off again.” In sensitive residents, over-stimulation is a possibility, so the room and sensory objects – visual projector, bubble tube, and fibre optic spray – have to be adjusted accordingly.

Trial and error, says Carrie, has been the prevailing theme since being appointed Snoezelen coordinator 4 months ago. As her sessions are not schedule dependent, Carrie can focus her attention on residents who require more extensive therapy.

“I can give them that one-on-one attention, and that’s gold,” she says.

“It’s very rewarding,” she says, when she notices a non-verbal resident go from rocking back and forth in a chair to smiling at ease.

For others, the Snoezelen room is a den in which to pamper themselves.

“In each case it’s different,” says Carrie. “For some people it curtails their agitations, some go to sleep, and some come in to get a manicure.” One resident, who has MS, finds the room so relaxing that she will often fall asleep minutes into her session.

Staff and resident family members are also free to use the Snoezelen room, and Carrie adds that during coffee breaks night staff will sneak in for a brief session.

Although Carrie has PSW training and a recreation and leisure diploma from Fanshawe College, she knew little of Snoezelen or its benefits, and laments that it isn’t more widely applied.

Her Snoezelen training – apart from studying a video from Snoezelen product suppliers Flaghouse, and an in-service by manager Vicki Cathcart – has been an ongoing self-educating process.

“This whole experience is totally new to me. I find it’s most effective on a therapeutic level if used at least twice a week,” she says. As she spends 90 percent of her weekly hours holding Snoezelen sessions, her own job has had a noticeable effect on her mood.

“I am even more laid-back than usual,” she laughs.