On the fourth floor of Hamilton County’s Youth Center, a new kind of courtroom is taking shape, not one with gavels and verdicts, but with color, light, and breath. It is called a Multi-Sensory De-escalation Room (MSDR), and for young people ages 16 to 18 who find themselves locked inside juvenile detention, it might be the first room that truly listens to them.
The space is a paradox. In a place built for confinement, it offers release. In a system designed around control, it offers choice.
“From Day One, they can come in this room and just be a kid again,” said Tully Anderson, an intervention specialist who once described himself as the biggest pessimist about the program.
Hamilton County Juvenile Court (HCJC), in partnership with
MindPeace Cincinnati and with funding support from the Ohio Department of Youth Services, has created the first MSDR in an Ohio detention facility. The set-up relies on simple, low-cost tools, chairs, lights, fidgets, making it a model that other counties could replicate.
Sacramento, California, pioneered the model nationally, launching its first room in 2016 in response to a growing need for trauma-informed spaces. Cincinnati is now the second jurisdiction in the country to bring this model inside a youth detention center and secure juvenile facility.
The Youth Center houses one large MSDR and ten smaller
calming corners spread across its pods. Inside the main room sits what looks like a futuristic egg-shaped chair. The sensory chair vibrates with music and guided meditation, wrapping the child in a cocoon of sound and stillness. Around it, soft lights glow in customizable colors, and walls invite touch through textured panels and interactive features. The goal is not punishment, but regulation; a chance to step out of survival mode, even for a few minutes.
Anderson admits he was skeptical at first. Years of working in juvenile detention had taught him to expect resistance, not relief. But he has watched youth who normally refuse to participate in programs ask to come back to the room. “They just need somewhere to breathe,” he said.
“It depends on the kid,” added Tyrone Bradford, another staff member. “Some respond immediately, others need more time.”
MindPeace, the nonprofit partner behind the project, was founded by the Junior League of Cincinnati in 2002 and launched independently in 2007. Over two decades, it has built a mental health network across more than 250 schools, ensuring that children have access to care regardless of zip code.
MindPeace Rooms™ now operate in over 65 schools in Greater Cincinnati. Bringing that expertise into juvenile detention is a leap; testing whether principles of access, consistency, and trust can take root in a system long defined by control.
Nationally, Sacramento’s youth facility pioneering MSDR offers a model. According to Deputy Probation Officer Heather Horton, the room was designed “to provide youth with a supportive environment to self-regulate and de-escalate without the use of force or isolation rooms.” Since its launch, she said, the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. The space engages all five senses to promote regulation, while also fostering rapport between youth and staff. Horton added that for other jurisdictions, the key is to start small and build with available resources. “Even modest implementation of multi-sensory strategies can begin to shift institutional culture,” she explained.
Sacramento’s staff reported nearly a 40 percent reduction in room confinement and use-of-force incidents. Chief Deputy Carol Paris described it as a space that helps traumatized youth shift from the amygdala, the brain’s survival center, to the frontal lobe, where reasoning and reflection are possible. “Punishment alone does not work,” said Chris Eldridge, Sacramento’s Mental Health Program Coordinator. “We can incarcerate, but what have they learned? What skills have we given them so that when they leave, they do not reoffend?”
Young people in Sacramento put it more simply. “I never knew how to express myself,” one said. “Here it’s great, because you actually have someone listening.”
Since March, Hamilton County’s MSDR has been used 77 times, and as of July 30, 94% of residents reported an improvement in their well-being after a visit.
Judge Kari Bloom, the administrative judge of Hamilton County Juvenile Court, is blunt about why this matters. “Many of the children we house come to us with undiagnosed trauma. All of them are facing very challenging circumstances. The MSDR provides a safe place for them to confront their trauma and begin to understand how to replace anger and frustration with positive and healing coping skills.” She also credited the
Ohio Department of Youth Services, whose funding made the room possible.
The Youth Center serves adolescents and young adults in the juvenile justice system, most often in their mid- to late-teens. Many are survivors of violence, abuse, poverty, or family breakdown. Research shows roughly 70 percent of justice-involved youth meet criteria for at least one diagnosable mental health disorder, most often tied to trauma, depression or anxiety. But once inside, the justice system can retraumatize them. Fights are punished, outbursts escalate into new charges, and kids cycle deeper into a system that does not ask what happened to them, only what they did.
Lauren Hueber, a trauma recovery specialist with Clermont Mental Health, said the language and the approach matter as much as the room itself. “Multi-sensory rooms, if used appropriately and facilitated by trauma-informed staff, can serve as a powerful intervention,” she explained. “They should not be presented as punishment or solitary time out, but as a space to reset and regulate.”
Hueber added that the restrictive nature of detention can worsen trauma if handled with control or punitive measures, which often mimic past abuse. “A deregulated trauma survivor can look like an angry or feral child, but really they are in urgent need of consistent, calm care and connection,” she said. “Providing trauma-informed staff is critical. These rooms give youth the chance to recalibrate their nervous system, to learn what safety and comfort feel like again.”
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Lorie BakerHamilton County Juvenile Court’s multi-sensory de-escalation space features tools like rocking chairs, tactile cushions, and calming murals to help youth regulate emotions and safely de-escalate.
The larger MSDR in Hamilton County includes stations for cycling, yoga, resistance training, and balance work. Mindfulness and breathing exercises guide youth toward stillness. The smaller calming corners are gentler, featuring sensory chairs, fidgets, and soft seating to prevent escalation before it starts.
“Every youth here has significant trauma,” said Britt Born, project manager and staff attorney for HCJC. “Without coping skills or regulation, you cannot just expect them to succeed.”
The boys who have been through the room do not use clinical language. Their words are sharper, more human:
- “The calming room is a fantastic place where you can gather your thoughts.” – K.B.
- “It gives you an opportunity to get your mind right.” – K.T.
- “The colors in the room help you to calm down. Very colorful.” – D.B.
- “It gives you peace of mind when trying to deal with difficult times.” – S.W.
Ninety-three percent report success. In a world where the usual metric is recidivism, that number lands like a breakthrough.
The results speak not just to fewer incidents but to a deeper cultural change inside the facility. As one official explained, the colors, textures, and sensory objects are designed to engage multiple senses, which increases learning and retention. The success is measured not in abstract numbers but in small, tangible wins: a young person who can return to the unit and function, a staff-youth interaction that does not end in restraint.
This partnership between Hamilton County and MindPeace is part of that larger cultural shift in juvenile justice - asking whether accountability can live alongside healing. Sacramento built the first room. Cincinnati followed. Other counties are already watching.
Judge Bloom frames it not as leniency, but as clarity. “Kids can be held accountable and responsible, but they are also children. We need spaces that meet them where they are.”
Inside a locked facility, trust is hard to come by. But sometimes it starts with a sensory chair, a wall that glows, or a staff member who listens.
“You give back,” Anderson says. “And that is when the healing starts.”