Located in the western region of the Greater Toronto Area, Woodview Mental Health & Autism Services offers a number of services for children and youth facing mental health challenges and for those diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder.
Originally known as St. Mary’s Asylum for girls and Mount St. Joseph for boys, the history of the facility dates back to 1853 and only officially became known as Woodview in the late 1970s. While a number of changes have taken place over the years, the goal remains the same today at Woodview, which has expanded to multiple locations providing community-based programs in the Burlington, Brantford, Halton and Hamilton regions.
As part of a number of recent projects, we were enlisted by our partners at Avron – specialists in school supplies, food and sensory room products. Having worked with them a number of times in the past, we are always eager to partner on exciting projects and this one was no exception. Working within an existing clinical space, stakeholders from Woodview were interested in transforming the area into a one-of-a-kind sensory room where toddlers, children and youth could partake in gross motor activities, experience proprioceptive stimulation, swinging, as well as deep pressure.
In addition to fixed items such as the customized swing and bubble tube, Avron’s design included a ball pool but was experiencing difficulty in incorporating a square-shaped pool and so came to our team to come up with a customized solution to fit the space.
The main challenge was that with the layout of the space and with the size of most square ball pool designs, the option of including a swing would prove to be very difficult. We worked tirelessly with the allotted space and our design team was able to create a unique shape that accommodated the room as well as other complimentary products including the swing.
After the initial design phases were signed off on, we got to work manufacturing the shape and padding that would be used to create the ball pool. In addition to the custom design, the pool was manufactured using Woodview’s corporate colours which matched with a number of other elements in the sensory room.
Today, the room stands to continue to serve the Woodview community, allowing their dedicated faculty to continue doing their research and providing care in the best environment possible.