Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1439469
maltatoday | SUNDAY • 26 DECEMBER 2021 15 COMMERCIAL Fundación MAPFRE supported over 900 families with therapeutic services at Inspire Foundation's Multisensory rooms INSPIRE Foundation's Mul- tisensory Rooms (MSR) are a unique service offered to in- dividuals with various disabil- ities. The service enables pro- fessionals to work with their clients to help them achieve their goals, or as a means of complementing any existing therapies they may be un- dergoing. The multisensory rooms are designed to be a fun environment which assists clients in meeting their thera- peutic goals. The service is offered regard- less of the age and targets cli- ents with special needs whether physical, intellectual, emotion- al and behavioural. The rooms help instructors to educate through the stimulation of the senses During 2021, despite all COVID-19 challenges, a total of 924 individual service users benefited from using the Mul- tisensory Rooms. Yolanda Cubides Torres, an Occupational Therapist form- ing part of Inspire Founda- tion's STAR programme,, said "Sensory rooms are for occu- pational therapists equivalent to the internet for companies – they are an indispensable and important tool. From the day I used Inspire's senso-ry rooms for the first time, I've enjoyed working with clients in the STAR Programme, as I've been able to provide them with a myriad of sensory stim- uli which have been invaluable in help-ing our clients to en- hance their abilities. The dark room helps them to better perceive colours and shapes, focusing their attention on the changes that they observe when manipulating the differ- ent equipment and perceiving light, brightness, movements and sounds highlighted in the dark environment. The white room is especially relaxing with its colour man- agement and its lulling vestib- ular stimuli. In the soft room, the clients can enjoy the sus- pended equipment and im- prove their stability and bal- ance whilst they enjoy and are amazed to feel the movement. It is one of the places where I have observed spectacular smiles of astonishment, emo- tion and ingenuity". The support demonstrated by Fundacion MAPFRE is very much appreciated, especially when the beneficiaries of these multi-sensory rooms will be enjoying the best intervention." said Javier Moreno González, MAPFRE Middlesea CEO. SPERO creates play with aim to instil sense of belonging and creativity within the blind community SPERO is a training and activi- ty centre for blind and visually impaired people, currently the protagonists of 'Ir-Raġel li Jara b'Widnejh', a play scripted by Marta Vella and directed by Josette Ciappara. The aim of this play is to instil a sense of belonging, self-trust and crea- tivity in the blind community particularly those who attend Spero by using theatre as a me- dium to integrate discipline, collaboration, respect and self- worth to these service users. This project is supported by the Premju tal-President għall-Kreattivita' – Arts Coun- cil Malta and The Office of The President of Malta. Through theatrical games and work- shops this project aims at stim- ulating the imagination of the people who make use of this centre to help improve their communication and social be- haviour and empower latent hidden talents they might have such as music, playing an in- strument / composing pieces of music, working on props, im- proving their memory, encour- aging them to read more and helping them more to work as a team. This project gives these service users hope in believing they can be part of something professional and start looking at life through different lens- es with the aim of eventually leading them to integrate more with their colleagues, family members and society in gen- eral. Several groups of school children have visited Spero to experience the environment within which the artistic pro- ject is taking place. Moreover, the play is being performed in front of different student and teacher audiences to enhance awareness and open up discus- sions on the theme presented. One of the boys who watched the played actually commented about how impressed he was by the awesome talents these peo- ple have despite their ability to see!