Listen Here
By Mackala Kirchbaum, KirchbaumM@Findlay.edu
Brought to the University through grant funds, the Zen Zone – located in AMU room 3B — officially opened to faculty, students, and staff in need of relaxation.
“We got grant funds from the Ohio Department of Higher Education, so this is all grant funded so none of this was paid for by the University,” Jodi Firsdon, the Senior Director of Counseling Services, said. “We were really trying to think of how we could affect the most people possible.”
Counseling services cannot serve the UF community outside of students, so the Zen Zone provides a way for counseling services to reach the community.
“This has been in the works for about a year, trying to get a good spot and get everything organized,” Firsdon said. “There just there weren’t a lot of open spaces on campus. Then when we were notified that the Kiwibots were leaving, we wanted that room.”
This space offers coloring books, bubble tubes, interactive lights, a bubble wall, a meditation trainer, a kinetic sound try, and acoustic chair, and a massage chair. The acoustic chair allows users to feel the music being played.
“Whatever kind of music that you want to pick, you can hook it up to your own phone and have different vibrations with different volumes,” Firsdon said. “There’s a set of headphones, if you want to hear the words, so that way it’s not just blasting the entire room.”
The meditation trainer includes an app to teach meditation. The massage chair offers a list of programmable options and features zero gravity.
“Anybody can use the room, you don’t have to reserve it or anything like that,” Firsdon said. “We do say if there’s somebody in the massage chair and you want to use it, just put your name up on the white board, and then limit it to like 15 minutes.”
The Zen Zone also uses bright light therapy.
“We always notice a pattern this part of the semester where things are just really starting to ramp up and it’s intense,” Firsdon said. “We notice a lot more anxiety, a lot more depression symptoms, a lot of students coming in, so I think it’s really important that they are taking care of themselves. So, this is open to students and staff. I’m hoping it’s able to impact faculty by allowing them a chance to breathe. I hope that they’re able to see that one, there are people on the campus that do care about people’s mental health, and it is a priority, and we want that for them,”
