Experience the world with your senses

In addition to painful treatments, children in oncology wards experience isolation from the outside world due to prolonged hospitalization and have difficulty interacting with their peers, leading to tension, stress and depressive states.

They can be helped by Snoezelen multisensory therapy, which offsets the negative effects of cancer treatment by activating all the senses and relaxing them. It counteracts hospital monotony and effectively reduces stress, tension, or pain. The therapy provides varied stimuli and can be successfully applied regardless of age or developmental disorders, disease unit, child's psychophysical condition or existing disability.

A room unlike any other

Snoezelen therapy is carried out in the World Experience Rooms, which are equipped with equipment to stimulate the senses - water columns, water bed, fiber optic beams, projectors, instruments. It is a relaxing, restful and at the same time activating place. All of the Room's equipment and its pleasant atmosphere provide a sense of reassurance and security, thus encouraging stimulation and sensory activity.

In an appropriately arranged space, the therapist can work with the child in a way that allows calming down in states of overstimulation, as well as stimulate the sense of balance and movement in withdrawn children. Therapy is selected individually, depending on needs, but can also be conducted in groups. The World Experience Room is used by all patients, even those in aplasia or after transplants, from newborns to teenagers. It is possible to conduct therapeutic activities for parents and siblings of the sick child, as well as medical staff. The use of Snoezelen therapy in the World Experience Rooms increases sensitivity to stimuli reaching the nervous system, including by triggering the orientation-exploration reflex and activation, which improves the functional efficiency of the brain.

Therapy helps reduce developmental deficits and disorders, including the reduction of undesirable behavior. It improves concentration, stimulates imagination and creativity. It gives children a sense of security, meaning, self-control and confidence. It enriches their experiences and brings joy.

- The mental health of children with cancer is as important to us as the healing processes. The many years of experience and results of our Snoezelen therapists in reducing chronic stress, anxiety, depressive disorders convinced us to implement the World Experience Rooms in other pediatric oncology and hematology clinics," says Anna Apel, president of the "Na Ratunek Dzieciom z Chorobą Tumorą" Foundation.

- However, this would not have been possible without cooperation with other NGOs and businesses. The construction and equipping of the Room at the Children's Health Center was made possible by the commitment and financial support from Amazon.

- Cancer is an extremely difficult time for a child. There are many ways to make the hospital stay at least a little easier. Therapeutic activities and workshops focused on relieving mental stress are important," says Professor Bozenna Dembowska-Baginska, Head of the Oncology Clinic at the Children's Health Center.

- The World Experience Room is a state-of-the-art, engaging way for our patients to strengthen children during illness, reduce anxiety, but also open up relationships for those children who have stopped talking or walking as a result of therapy. The room will allow many patients to regain their sense of agency, sustain the natural explorer instinct in children and allow them to work with imagination, fantasy, and this is a natural way for them to relieve hospital stress. I'm sure we'll see more than a few small and big breakthroughs thanks to her.

However, the establishment of a World Experience Room is not enough. Therapists are needed to work with the Snoezelen method on a daily basis. Here, foundations operating at pediatric oncology and hematology clinics across the country play an important role. It is they who provide comprehensive support, including psychosocial support, to children with cancer. It is also indispensable to enable therapists to participate in trainings, workshops and courses that prepare them comprehensively to teach Snoezelen therapy. The Room for Experiencing the World at the "Monument - Children's Health Center" Institute was established as part of the "Golden Ribbon" Campaign. - an international initiative to mark pediatric cancer awareness month. The financial support that made its creation possible was provided by Amazon as part of the #AmazonGoesGold initiative.

- Through the Amazon Goes Gold for Kids With Cancer campaign, we have the opportunity to make a real difference in the lives of thousands of children and their families by raising awareness of the important work being done in cancer research and oncology care for the youngest patients. - Says Barbara Krystosiak, Community Relations Manager, Amazon.

- I'm glad that this year, together with the Foundation Na Ratunekom Dzieci z Chorobą Tumorą, we were able to help open the World Experience Room, a place that is extremely important in therapy to speed up patients' recovery.

More Halls are coming soon The Warsaw Hall of Experiencing the World is the fourth created by experts and therapists of the "Na Ratunek Dzieciom z Chorobą Tumorowej" Foundation and its Partners. Previously, Halls were created in Wroclaw, Bydgoszcz and Poznan - and there are plans to steadily increase their number in pediatric oncology clinics throughout Poland.'

Source: press release