By Anna Bedell

Sheri Wong likes to create soothing, anxiety reducing scents for her candles that calm the nerves, especially for special needs parents, who have so much to deal with as it is, something she is all too familiar with.

“I started my business last year,” said Wong, 35. “My candles are ‘awareness candles,’ where 50 percent goes to local charities like autism and spina bifida, dedicated to my son who has [them both] as well.”

Wong settled beneath her vendor’s tent, selling her Soothing Ways products, under gray skies with heavy clouds at the Bristol Farmers market last Saturday.

She called the candles an ode to her 3-year-old son, but the ode was a while in the making.

After seven months of testing candles during the pandemic, Wong, who started making them as a hobby, was driving everyone nuts, she said.  

She began testing each candle to make sure they were safe, which is usually the longest process, she said.  

“I really liked it and then started that as a business,” said Wong. “Self-care is very important, so I created a line that’s a perfect candle where it doesn’t sit and, there’s a few little pieces on it to have some fun with them.”

It all began with her need to find an outlet for herself, that would also provide awareness to others.  

Connecticut has a good support system for families with special needs children, she said.  

“We went through the Birth-to-Three program here and it was really great,” said Wong. “I actually found services for him that does full-time ABA therapy.”

Applied Behavioral Analytics [ABA] is a scientific method, Wong said, and there are kids with autism where they collect data to see how long the action of the child lasts.

“They look at graphs and see what scientific methods they could use to shorten the behavior or add to the behavior like talking,” said Wong. “My son was nonverbal when he started and now he’s saying 10 words.”

As Wong talked about her passion for making these candles, the dreary weather lingered, very few shoppers and only about 10 vendors turned up.

Soothing Ways did have a few people stop by to purchase the creative candles. There are varieties for every theme, and different scents like the classic Vanilla Cream, to Fabuloso, a rainbow just after the rain.

There were candles with puzzle pieces, the symbol for autism, and pink ribbons for breast cancer. Others were Halloween themed candles in cauldrons and some with scary painted faces.  

For more information about Soothing Ways, please visit the website at: https://www.soothingways.com/.

For more information on Applied Behavior Analysis Services for Individuals with Autism and Related Behavior Disorders in CT, please visit the website at: https://abaservicesofct.com/.

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