Sensory garden: A mindful space
In a world with constant stimuli, activating the senses in a controlled environment might be just what people need to relax. The Southeast South Dakota Activity Center’s (Sesdac) new sensory garden is set to open to the public on Thursday, May 28, from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m.
“We have visual art installations that are going to include mosaic pieces that are actually made by the people that we support,” Ionela Georgescu, Executive Director of Sesdac, said.
Sesdac offers services to people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. They provide habilitation and training through a range of recreational activities that allow people to socialize.
“We also have garden beds for the people that we support,” Georgescu said. “They are all going to be working during the daytime services with some of our staff planting flowers and taking care of them.”
The garden aims to create a space for everyone to practice mindfulness through sensory integration. This outdoor space will serve different therapeutic reasons for the people visiting.
“This is going to be open to the public, and it’s going to be a place to provide inclusion for people that we support into the community and share our vision with everybody,” Georgescu said.
The layout of the space includes a butterfly garden with specific plants that attract butterflies. There’s also a smell-and-touch garden with aromatic plants where people can feel their textures. The garden also has water features, like a bubbly fountain. Additionally, there are wind spinners and chimes, as well as swings, one of which is wheelchair-accessible.
“It’s been one of my goals for the past five or six years,” Georgescu said. “We started, in the beginning, with a very small sensory room. When we saw how beneficial that was and how calming it was for the people that we support, we said, ‘Why not take it outside?’ So I have been dreaming of this for a long time.”
The initial sensory room has now become a gaming room after they decided to expand it and move it into a larger space. This new room has a sound system for mindfulness exercises. It also has a projector that projects onto the floor, where people can play interactive games. This room is still available within the Sesdac offices, whereas the Sensory Garden is an outdoor, more nature-centered version of this idea.
“If I have to pick one part of it, it would be the pond, the water and the bridge,” Georgescu said. ”I think the water features are probably my favorite part in the garden.”
After the ribbon-cutting ceremony, attendees are welcome to stay for the Sesdac Garden Party, where they’ll explore its various features. People who want to attend are encouraged to RSVP by filling out the form at sesdac.org.
