SENSE-GARDEN is a therapeutic space addressing care and well-being of people, with focus on mental health. Current users are persons with major neurocognitive disorders and their caregivers. The space is open to other conditions, situations, and accommodating all ages. In the SENSE-GARDEN space there are photos, videos, music and scents connected with the person's life story that strengthen the awareness by providing stimuli to the different senses, such as sight, touch, hearing, balance and smell. There are today SENSE-GARDENs in daily operation in Belgium, Norway, Portugal and Romania, and a new already one planned for the Netherlands near Eindhoven.
In the SENSE-GARDENs photos and videos are combined with music - maybe images of mountains shown together with the sounds of singing birds. Favourite smells - for example the odour of a pine forest - are dispersed with a scent delivery system. This provides an immersive space that adjusts to each visitor, creating a connection to the most preserved areas of the emotional memory.
The SENSE-GARDEN activates people both mentally and physically. They can for example cycle or walk in a well-known space feeling as going home. These amazing experiences have already provided unexpected effects on many, invigorating their identity, helping recovering their sense of self and re-connecting to the persons they love and the world around them.
