Newtownabbey gym preparing to open sensory room for autistic children

The gym, which gives mothers the freedom and opportunity to exercise, is operated by award winning health and fitness mentor, Leanne Evans.

Leanne’s eldest son has Asperger’s and ADHD and her younger son has Global Developmental Delay. Leanne has developed an “autism friendly fitness sanctuary” at her Portland Avenue site.

Following a recent expansion, an internet cafe for young people and a sensory room for children with autism have been created.

Commenting on the development, Leanne explained: “We wanted to create an inclusive environment to help our children and young people find a safe space in such busy, stressful times, to create a space that promoted inclusion, diversity and equality.

“For children and young people with autism, time in a multi-sensory room can help them make sense of the world and to develop language skills.

“It can also be a time out from a world that for a lot of our youth, can simply be overwhelming.

“A multi-sensory room is not just being a calming or a stimulating environment where we can help children to self regulate, provide them with a safe space where they can explore their emotions and feelings, but also to be a magical space, where the equipment can fire their imagination.

“The bubble tube can be a volcano and the fibre optics the lava, or where the projector can become the night sky with the blue fibre optics become the stars twinkling between their toes, encouraging the children to catch falling stars or make wishes for their dreams for the future.”

She added: “We have put in an internet cafe for teenagers as a safe space to come to browse the internet, meet friends, catch up on school work, or just to use as a safe space.

“Our internet cafe will be run by a team of volunteers trained in complex needs assistance, drugs awareness, signposting and various health and fitness qualifications.

“We hope to improve the physical and mental wellbeing of these kids at an early age to give them the best head start possible. We will run courses such as money management, stress management, substance talks and much more.

“We are ready to open in April as soon as we have the go ahead. When we reopen post Covid, we will have tools to help our community recover and thrive.”

For more information about the services offered at the Portland Avenue facility, check out the Fit Moms & Kids-Glengormley Facebook page.

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The gym staged an open day in August 2020 as lockdown restrictions eased last summer.

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