What if I told you that you can scream as well as break common household items like cups or plates in a controlled environment, at a fee?
Well, there is such a place in Roysambu Constituency, Nairobi county. The rage room, known to many as ‘The Healing Room’, is just three months old but has become a go-to place for many young people who are seeking to either let go of their anger or just have fun.
The trend, which is slowly gaining traction in Kenya, has however been in existence in different parts of the world for years.
It reportedly originated in Japan in 2008 when stressed workers would converge at ‘The Venting Place’ , a truck-turned rage room, to hurl breakables due to the economic recession.
The Healing Room, which is located along Kamiti Road in Zimmermann, has so far had at least 30 clients.
Nassim Nkatha, a practicing psychologist for eight years now, will be the newest client today. Her steps are steady as she approaches the building which houses this rage room. She has been researching about this new trend and her face lights up when she finally spots it.
“Hi, is this the Healing Room?” Nkatha enquires as she makes her way in the office reception, with her ear to ear smile still on.
“Yes, welcome. My name is Irene Wambui. You will first sign this book…” Irene Wambui, the owner of the ‘Healing Room’ and a counselling psychologist ushers her in.
“What should I expect?” Nkatha asks as she signs in her details on the registration book.
“You should expect to feel relieved.” Wambui assures her.
After the brief introduction, Wambui walks Nkatha through the rules and regulations that must be followed in the rage room, afterwhich Nkatha gets to pick a sweet from one of three shelves pinned on the wall labelled ‘Angry’, ‘Excited’ and ‘Anxious’. She picks both angry and excited, a symbolism of her mixed feelings on the experience she is about to have.
Just before Nkatha starts the smashing and breaking, she will be required to undergo a pre-therapy session in a private room for at least 10 minutes. Here, Wambui explains to Nkatha, who leads a mental organization known as ‘HUGS’ to mean Hardiness Unearths Great Success, of the importance of therapy.
“The rage room is not a substitute to therapy, if you are going through something, you’ll have to see a therapist” Wambui says as she hands Nkatha a consent and liability form to sign.
The counselling psychologist’s advice to Nkatha is a reflection of the broader mental health crisis in Kenya where data from the Ministry of Health shows the national prevalence of common mental disorders stands at about 10.3%. Furthermore, it indicates that 42% of Individuals seeking primary care have severe depression.
After the pre-therapy session, Nkatha will be required to suit up in a protective gear which includes an overall covering her neck to her feet, a face mask as well as a face shield, safety gloves as well as disinfected covers for her head and shows to avoid any injuries.
“We have a maximum of five people.I know the room is large but we’d want people to have space to move around…” Wambui informs me.
According to her, the inspiration to start this rage room came from watching a movie with her friend. The two then threw their minds into days of research on how the same could be replicated in Kenya to help people who may not want to sit and talk to someone due to stigma.
Despite covering almost all her face, Nkatha’s eyes can’t hide her excitement to get into this blue lit room with her to-be victims laid on the stools. The walls of the room are covered by writings and signatures of people who’ve let out their emotions without anyone judging them.
For her session, Nkatha will be breaking three soda bottles, a plate, a cup and top off the experience with smashing a watermelon as music of her choice plays on full blast. Here, the relief sessions are offered in different packages that range from as low as Ksh.1,500 to Ksh. 7, 500 depending on how many things you are breaking or smashing.
Armed with a wooden bat, Nkatha aims at the first bottle and lets out a scream, the satisfying sound of shattering glass filling the air as she does this repetitively for about 5 minutes. She makes sure the broken glass is reduced to very fine particles. Her bat still in hand, she goes for her final victim, the watermelon. She aims for it and smashes it while screaming and laughing at the sight of her handy work which is now displayed on the floor beneath her together with the walls.
“What is worth it” I ask her, as she wipes sweat off her forehead. I think to myself how it is also a symbolism of her wiping her feelings away.
“I feel like I had a lot of pent up anger that I didn’t know of…I feel lighter,” Nkatha tells me, as she catches her breath.
“This can be a double ended sword. It can be good and it can also be a bad way of relieving things so what we are doing here is called exposure therapy,” she adds.
Traditionally in Kenya, many netizens often take to social media to comment on how they can’t wait for the clock to strike midnight on the 31st of December so as to scream without any prejudice.
A spot check in Nairobi on how the year has been for different people, shows that people are carrying a mixed bag of emotions. Simon, a bodaboda operator along Kamiti Road, tells me that the hard economic situation in the country has painted his life in a dull mode all year long. On his part however, Joseph, a sugarcane vendor in Zimmermann, says that despite the shortcomings in the year, he chooses to see the glass half full.
As Nkatha scribbles on the wall as a mark of memory, she hopes that this trend will continue to spark broader conversations about mental health and the need to have support systems for them, this even as rage rooms in the country are expected to rise steadily.
Written by Stanley Nyaringita – TV47
