Prevention Links Hosts a Ribbon Cutting Ceremony on Tuesday, August 10th at 3:00 PM to Inaugurate New Sensory Room Through Their Greenway Family Success Center and Kean University’s Occupational Therapy Community Cares Clinic

Greenway Family Success Center & Kean University’s Occupational Therapy Community Cares Clinic, with funding from Woodbridge Community Development Block Grant, will provide free access to the Sensory Room beginning on August 10th, 2021.

Fords, NJ — Prevention Links has received a grant from the Woodbridge Community Development Block Grant Program to support the launch of the Sensory Room at their Greenway Family Success Center located in Fords of Middlesex County. Designed with the help of a wonderful team from Kean University’s Occupational Therapy Community Cares Clinic, the Sensory Room is designed to be a safe and supportive exploratory space to meaningfully engage with touch, sight, smell, taste, and sounds. In the Sensory Room, parents and children can be introduced to their different sensory systems and engage with different items to calm or stimulate themselves as needed. Rooms such as these can help parents engage with their children in a new way and encourages children to utilize their bodies for self-soothing.

The Sensory Room features a soothing corner with bean bag chairs adjacent to a textured wall that contains a wide variety of tactile and auditory experiences for children to engage with. The space also boasts a welcoming light corner containing lights with different settings to evoke either a stimulating effect or calming effect. Equipped with weighted blankets, sound machines and more, this room is the ideal setting for a fun and healing sensory experience. Families are encouraged to schedule a time to visit the Sensory Room at the Greenway Family Success Center by contacting Site Director, Christina Armstrong (She/Her) by phone (732) 734-1569 or email at greenway@preventionlinks.org

The Greenway Family Success Center (GFSC) opened its doors in February 2017. Housed within what was previously known to many residents as the Fords Theater. The Greenway Family Success Center was named after the Middlesex Greenway, a three-and-a-half-mile rail trail that connects the municipalities of Metuchen, Edison, and Woodbridge.

Families love to gather at Greenway Family Success Center for free, family-fun activities and educational workshops, with the chance to get to know their neighbors. The GFSC also connects people with local resources that are helpful and meaningful to them, from food pantries to tutoring help.

Prevention Links’ Family Success Centers are part of the NJ Family Success Center Network through the Office of Family Support Services at the Department of Children and Family Services.

In keeping with Prevention Links’ overarching goal to prevent child abuse and neglect, their Family Success Centers provide services focused on primary prevention through conducting Strengthening Families programming. The purpose of this programming is to promote community education and public awareness regarding the importance of positive child development, child health, parenting, safety and the prevention of child maltreatment.

For more information about the Greenway Family Success Center, or to schedule an appointment to visit, you can contact Site Director, Christina Armstrong (She/Her) at (732) 734-1569 or greenway@preventionlinks.org

You can also visit the website and follow the GFSC on Facebook @GreenwayFamilySC and Instagram @GreenwayFamilySuccess to stay up-to-date on upcoming programming and events.