Family CARE Grant Helps Youth in Crisis with Therapy Rocker
Published Tuesday, May 19, 2026
Shawn Seagris, Manager of Child & Adolescent Mental Health, and Erin, RN Unit Leader, at Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre with the new vibroacoustic therapy rocker destined for the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Unit's calming room currently under development. The therapy rocker was funded through the Health Sciences Foundation's Family CARE Grant program to help youth in crisis with emotional regulation and de-escalation support
For children and youth in crisis, the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Unit (CAMHU) at the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre is a safe place to stabilize and receive the care they need. The eight-bed unit serves all of Northwestern Ontario, helping youth when they are at their most vulnerable.
A new calming room now under construction in the unit will feature a new therapy rocker to help patients safely de-escalate during crisis moments – and even prevent them. This speciality chair comes thanks to your support of the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Foundation's Family CARE Grant program.
The room itself is designed to be a safe spot for youth who are overwhelmed and overstimulated in the moment.
“We're creating an environment that will be soothing for the youth we treat,” said Shawn Seagris, Manager of Child & Adolescent Mental Health at our Hospital. “It will be a safe space where they can decompress and emotionally regulate.”
People in crisis often need support regulating their emotions. Overstimulation from lights, noise, and even social interaction can further intensify a person's emotional state, as they may already be experiencing heightened stress. A calming room, as the name implies, helps de-escalate those emotions by removing the person from a stressful situation and providing a more soothing sensory experience.
The new chair will be part of that experience. Called the vibroacoustic therapy rocker, it helps calm down patients in several different ways.
“Erin, one of our RN Unit Leaders, suggested this therapy rocker would be a great addition to the calming room,” Seagris said. “When I researched the chair, I thought it was a fantastic idea.”
The over-sized rocker gently cradles the whole body in soft foam. Besides the soothing rocking motion, the chair also generates low-frequency musical notes that pulse through the body, acting sort of like an internal relaxing massage.
“It's a really comfortable, rocking and self-soothing chair,” he said. “The dual sensory experience of movement and vibration really helps with emotional regulation, especially for neurodiverse youth.”
The therapy rocker also comes with a integrated sound system for the room, adding to the soothing atmosphere. Its durable vinyl covering also makes the chair easy to clean and maintain.
The CAMHU calming room is still under construction, though Seagris expects it will be ready sometime in June. (Your donations helped cover some construction costs as well through a separate Foundation grant!) Seagris said that when it opens, he expects the calming room and therapy rocker will be used multiple times per day. And, patients will be able to use the therapy rocker proactively as a tool to support emotional regulation and potentially help reduce escalation before a crisis develops.
“It can also be used as preventative therapeutic use. The team is really good at identifying even early signs of emotion deregulation, so patients can take a sensory regulation break.”
The chair comes thanks to a Family CARE (Care Advancement Recommended by Employees) Grant, a special program that empowers frontline staff by funding their great ideas. For the 2025/2026 year, 100% of grant applications were funded for a total of $126,983. Read about some of the other important projects and how you can help bring them to life through your donation: healthsciencesfoundation.ca/familycare
Article By: Graham Strong