Cubbie Sensory Spaces on MPFT Adult Mental Health Wards
Adult inpatient wards can be high-stimulus environments where sensory overload often escalates into distress, violence, or self-harm. Within Midlands Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust, limited estate space prevented the installation of traditional sensory rooms. A solution was required to improve the healing environment while remaining financially prudent and safe within existing ward footprints.
Between December 2024 and April 2025, three self-contained Cubbie sensory units were introduced into communal lounges. The project was delivered significantly below the £500,000 threshold, including dedicated staff support. The Cubbie provides a digitally enabled space accessible 24 hours a day, seven days a week, allowing patients to select tailored visual and auditory programmes and regulate their emotions independently.
Measurable Impact
Since installation, the units have been used consistently at all hours. Key safety and engagement outcomes include:
• `1,739 sensory regulation sessions delivered
• 16% of sessions occurring overnight (midnight to 6:00 am)
• 71% reduction in self-harm incidents on Brocton ward
• 35% reduction in violent incidents on Chebsey ward
• 70% reduction in violent incidents on Milford ward
• 84% of sessions resulted in reduced distress or maintained emotional stability
Restoring Agency
While these statistics are compelling, the true impact of the Cubbie lies in the quiet restoration of patient agency. In an environment where individuals can often feel that control has been taken away, this space offers something vital: the power of choice. It represents a shift from reactive containment to proactive empowerment, allowing patients to recognise rising distress and step into a self-curated refuge of their own volition.
Its value is often seen in moments that data cannot fully capture. It is the dignity of a patient who feels overwhelmed at 3:00 am and can immediately access a calming space, without needing to ask for permission or wait for a formal intervention. By embedding this neurodiversity-informed environment into everyday ward culture, we move beyond simply managing risk and instead support recovery through autonomy and self-regulation.
This project demonstrates how thoughtful, scalable design can transform therapeutic environments. When we create spaces that genuinely support emotional regulation, we do more than reduce incidents. We restore dignity, autonomy, and the foundations of recovery.
