A therapeutic classroom is a room that has been purposefully designed to put the children’s mental health and wellbeing needs at the core. They acknowledge that current classrooms are outdated, overwhelming, uncomfortable and often create barriers to learning. Our rooms take what isn't working, and make real impactful changes!
An ethos informed by science
Therapeutic classrooms are not just about putting nice furniture into spaces. They are backed by neuroscience, trauma and attachment theory and are designed with the children’s mental health and wellbeing in mind. Everything we source is specifically chosen with purpose and intention.
We have spoken to children and staff across the UK and ensure their voices and needs are central to both the design and furniture.
Why are they called 'therapeutic'?
Because when we engage with something therapeutic, like a warm bath, massage, long walk, talking with a friend or gardening, we feel grounded, safe, calmer and more present. We gain a sense of clarity and renewal that help us take on the challenges of the days to come with renewed energy. Our rooms and approach offer the children these same properties through the environment itself. Spending time in our rooms affects how they feel and therefore how they engage, learn and perform in the spaces.
A sense of safety and calm
Children are navigating a world that perpetuates and glorifies chronic stress. In every classroom you will find children who come from busy families, are struggling with adversity or trauma and/ or are addicted to devices such as phones, tablets and gaming. Children today spend very little time relaxing and in a calm state. The numbers of children playing outside, visiting friends face to face and spending time in nature have dramatically decreased over the last 10 years with children choosing to spend their spare time on technology, scrolling their phones or gaming. This impacts the brain in a negative way, increasing stress hormones, reducing their ability to concentrate, creating feelings of anxiety, diminishing social skills and leaving children unable to regulate or manage their emotions. Children and young people's minds are constantly working from their survival brain as it tries to cope with the constant fast pace, demanding environment around them. It is no surprise that their mental health and wellbeing needs are at an all time crisis and it is showing in our classrooms.
Our classrooms reduce those stress hormones and purposefully create a space where children can begin to regulate and learn to manage their own sense of wellbeing and mental health.
They also help children to experience and feel what it is like to be in a nurturing, safe environment that helps them feel inspired and learn. This is especially important for those children who don't live in comfortable, warm homes. The classroom therefore doesn't just teach the curriculum but also what it feels like to be warm, safe, comfortable and calm!
Buying directly from us ensures your furniture is approved by TPC and that the approach, ethos and science is not lost. Children are always at the core of what we do!
“This is not just about creating beautiful spaces. It is about creating rooms that make children feel safe and calm. This approach is an approach backed by science”
Shahana Knight
Our aims
- To change perceptions and raise standards in UK classrooms
- To ensure every classroom is trauma informed, attachment aware and inclusive
- To ensure every classroom is designed around the needs of the child
- To ensure mental health and wellbeing is embedded into the classroom environment
- To ensure every child has a nurturing, welcoming environments they can feel emotionally and physically safe in
- To ensure all children are comfortable as a basic requirement.
- To ensure children have access to flexible seating options that help reflect their needs from session to session
- To ensure the environment contributes to long lasting, significant outcomes for children
- To ensure the classroom also supports the teachers wellbeing and mental health
“The impact is really hard to put into words. We have happy children who love coming to school and who want to learn. We have children who no longer attack staff, kick in walls and trash rooms!”
Personalised Learning Pathways Manager