Sensory Enrichment Therapy
for
Addiction Recovery
Scientific research shows environmental enrichment improves the brain's ability to overcome addiction
We believe sensory enrichment could help in the following areas:
Fewer withdrawals symptoms,
Fewer clients wanting to leave against professional advice,
Improved mood regulation during and post treatment,
and even possibly
Long term recovery with a lower rate of relapse.
How it works
We use sensory enrichment to help addicts feel more in control and more at peace by:
helping the brain to re-balance its neurochemistry
facilitating increased processing speed between both sides of the brain
improving sleep mechanisms
populating weak brain functions with new connections
Environmental Enrichment
Environmental Enrichment is a field of neuroscience that studies the impact of sensory, motor, cognitive and social experiences on brain development and brain function.
Neuroplasticity, or the lifelong ability of the brain to create more neurons, more connections, and more supportive tissue, and to re-balance neurotransmitters is now widely understood.
Sensory Enrichment Therapy
Sensory Enrichment Therapy is a new evidence-based treatment modality that was developed by translating the protocols used in the science lab into short, fun, hands-on experiences that people can do from home and in residential programs to trigger the brain’s plasticity mechanisms.
Clinical Evidence
It has been validated in randomized controlled trials with children with developmental disorders including autism spectrum disorder. Children who followed the program were 6 times more likely to achieve clinically significant gains compared to their peers who only followed standard care.
Pre-clinical evidence
There have been many animal studies looking at the impact of environmental enrichment on addiction.
Key findings include:
• Reduces craving incubation in male and female rats.
• Reduces cue-induced heroin seeking in male in female rats.
• May have a potential treatment utility for heroin use disorders.
• Significantly shortened chronic stress-delayed extinction and decreased the reinstatement of ethanol-conditioned place preference.
• An effective behavioral strategy to reduce drug-related behaviors.
• Leads to neural adaptations in brain regions highly implicated in drug reward and use disorder.
• Beneficial for individuals struggling with substance use disorder.
• Response to cocaine of EE mice was reduced (approximately 65%) compared with sensitized mice housed in standard environments.
• After 30 days of EE, the reactivity to cocaine of sensitized mice was similar to that of the non-sensitized mice that were housed in standard or enriched environments.
• Facilitate abstinence and preventing relapse to cocaine addiction.
Eliminate already established addiction-related behaviors
Results of 10-person pilot
In Canada, an Outpatient Program Treatment Centre enrolled 10 of their most consistent clients in a 12-week pilot program with Mendability to see if Sensory Enrichment could help their brains compensate for addiction.
We are looking for addiction recovery treatment centers interested in working with us to create the next-generation residential programs.
Would you like to talk to us?
Set up a quick 20-minute call to discuss piloting a program of environmental enrichment to help reduce recovery time and chances of relapse.
3,000+
Join 3,000+ other families who have also followed Mendability's Sensory Enrichment Therapy!
“This is really working! My toddler has started using functional language!
His cognition has improved, his motor skills are getting way better, he is finally starting to climb and point and wave and able to copy signs. He has been blossoming intensely, really catching up at a faster rate. Now we have SO much hope!”
– Melissa M. (New Zealand)
parent of a 3-year-old boy
“I think that [my son] is responding great to the therapy! He definitely seems to be following instructions better across the board and is just a little more aware of the world around him.
We have also seen some improvements in speech, pronunciation, eating, handwriting and overall function.”
– Sara J. (California)
parent of a 4-year-old boy
“I went to the library where we spent about 2 hours, and both of the girls were happily reading while staying in their seats. In our prior visits, the oldest one just roamed and ran around the library while I chased her. This time, I was pleasantly surprised by how long my oldest daughter (4) sat and stayed focus on reading. This has never happened before!”
– Mary M. (Texas)
parent of a 4-year-old-girl
The top 5 areas where parents report the most improvements in the first few weeks are Sleep, Eating, Social Skills, Attention and Sensory Processing
Tailored enrichment therapy is designed to boost brain plasticity in targeted brain functions
• Emotion (motivation to engage with other people),
• Self-awareness (where do I fit in space and this social world?),
• Fine motor (can I control my voice box, lips, breathing, etc.?),
• Auditory processing (can I hear myself speak?),
• Memory and learning (vocabulary, sentence structure),
• Mental image (can I picture what I want to say in my mind?), etc.
As these tools improve in the brain, the bottlenecks that slowed down natural speech development should fade away.
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